FoodFight by Dan Imhoff

Every day we impact climate change by what we put into our mouths. Today’s current food system is a major contributor to climate change- from 15% to 33% of all emissions, yet if growing food were done right, we could actually help solve the climate crisis. It is time to go beyond personal food choices. Right now our politicians are getting ready to make decisions on how the U.S. government will support either destructive farming or healthy, climate-saving farming and food systems. So much is at stake with the 2007 Farm Bill! America’s farm subsidy system is broken- $70 billion propping up unsustainable and destructive systems! Claims are made that the right things are supported, but when you look at the amount of funding, the vast majority goes to toxic, unsustainable agriculture for commodities that are destroying the health of our people, our land, our wildlife- and our climate. We can all contact our senators and representatives to let them know they need to completely revamp the Farm Bill, including:
- end subsidies to large corporations and to toxic agriculture,
- provide full support for organic agriculture because it sequesters more carbon (1) and greatly reduces carbon emissions from fossil fuels, as well as provides more nutritious food (2), which protects human health, especially of children,
- provide major support for local, organic food production, including farmer’s markets, school lunches getting fresh organic local food, school and community gardens, small-scale production and processing, food stamps that provide fresh healthy food and not junk food,
- block the dangerous proposal  to preempt state and local food safety regulations,
- provide no support for any genetically-modified crops (GMO’s)- they are too dangerous and can not be contained (3)
- provide far more support for conservation and for stopping the pollution of our waters with chemicals
- strong protection of farmland from development
ACTIONS:
To contact your state representatives- http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml
To contact your state Senators- http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Sign this petition- http://ga3.org/campaign/House_Ag/ They need to remove Section 123 from Title 1 of the 2007 Farm Bill (HR 2419), which would hinder state safety and animal welfare programs and preempt democratically enacted local and state regulations on GE crops. This is a back-door means of wiping out state and local food safety laws.
- Reading this full article helps explain the issue quickly, and provides a list of useful websites. - Editor
The new food crusade
“Food Fight,” by Sonoma County author Daniel Imhoff, is a call to arms, urging Congress to use the 2007 farm bill to put more healthful food on people’s plates. The bill, which in recent years has totaled about $70 billion annually, comes up about once every five years. Although the farm bill has far-reaching consequences for the food supply, most people outside the Midwestern Farm Belt, which gets huge farm bill subsidies, have ignored it. This year, things are different. The short version of the argument — and nothing is short when it comes to the mind-numbing, complex farm bill — is that the bill subsidizes the overproduction of corn and soy in the Midwest, which is driving up obesity and diabetes and polluting the land. Instead, they say, the farm bill should put more money into sustainable and organic food production, agricultural conservation and efforts to put a higher priority on fresh, local fruits and vegetables. Their slogan: It’s the food, health and farm bill.  This year’s burst of activism rises from the national trend toward local, sustainable and conscious eating — consumers who want to know what they’re eating, where it comes from and how it is produced.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/10/FARMBILL.TMP&tsp=1
Also for a quick overview, read: http://www.watershedmedia.org/foodfight_overview.html

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(1) The research is in- organic farming sequesters far more carbon than even the no-till method- as show by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists. http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2007/070710.htm 

(2) Read The End of Food: How the Food Industry is Destroying Our Food Supply–And What We Can Do About It- by Thomas F. Pawlick for information on how serious drops in nutrition are occurring in non-organic food and how organic foods are more nutritious and don’t contain the brain-damaging poisons.

(3) Read a great summary of the dangers of GMO’s Genetic Roulette by Jeremy Smith.

For an interesting and fun overview of our food system choices, read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

- Conclusion:  The food issue is relevant for absolutely everyone. The Farm Bill is not just for farmers- it is a food bill.  Our health, the health of our families, and our community are clearly at stake here, even without the climate change issue, but when you add the emissions issue, it turns out what keeps us healthy is what keeps the earth healthy, too- local, organic, and accessible by all.- Editor