 |
Rio Grande Community Farm is
a City of Albuquerque based nonprofit organization which works in
partnership with City of Albuquerque Open Space Division to establish
farming projects that promote farmland preservation and production
of food crops for local consumption at city-owned Los Poblanos Fields.
Projects currently underway are:
Sufficient, nutritious food is essential to life and a fundamental
right of every person as defined in the UN Declaration of Human
Rights and the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The world’s nations confirmed this right and bound themselves
to eradicate hunger and bring food security to all at the World
Food Summit in Rome in 1996.
Those of us that are food secure and regularly shop where we like,
and can afford to eat what we like, often assume this is the case
for everyone. However, food security is more complex. Many underserved
neighborhoods lack buying power and therefore lack access to the
kind of food services that are easily taken for granted.
In addition to examining the wages and household budgets of those
needing food assistance, other relevant questions to food security
are: Who is producing food? Where and by what means is it being
produced? And, who has the means necessary to produce it? Currently
most of our food is grown on only 9% of our country’s farms,
and these are also the farms that receive the most government subsidies.
Our nation’s small and mid-size farmers also need equal government
support in the form of programs which help access markets that pay
them a decent wage for their labor, and insure farmland protection.
To address the issue of hunger and poverty in the 21st century,
we need to examine the economic realities of industrialized agriculture,
the impact of government subsidies and market forces, our national
policies, the real cost of industrialized agriculture in relationship
to environmental problems as well as international trade.
The portion of the land at Los Poblanos Fields, which is planted
in field crops and community garden plots is in part subsidized
by a Food Security grant from the USDA. The grant is a 50% matching
grant to help establish Los Poblanos Fields as a source for fresh
food for local citizens who are food insecure. This means that for
every dollar the USDA funds, RGCF must earn or find a matching dollar.
Produce sales, our yearly membership drive, income from the maze,
and contributions from other grantors provide the matching funds.
The intention of the grant is to support RGCF in establishing a
Community Food Network by partnering with local organizations, church
and service groups, and government programs and divisions, as well
as individuals to make local fresh food available to City of Albuquerque
citizens who need food assistance, i.e. are food insecure.
People all over the USA, Europe and Canada are working on some of
the same problems we have in Albuquerque. The rest of this article
introduces you to a national organization called The Community Food
Security Coalition of which RGCF is a member.
The Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC) is a non-profit
501(c)(3), North American organization dedicated to building strong,
sustainable, local and regional food systems that ensure access
to affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food for all
people at all times.
The coalition seeks to develop self-reliance among all communities
in obtaining their food and creating a system of growing, manufacturing,
processing, making available, and selling food that is regionally
based and grounded in the principles of justice, democracy, and
sustainability. The coalition is made up of organizations concerned
with social and economic justice, the environment, nutrition, sustainable
agriculture, community development, labor, poverty and hunger.
One of the coalition's main political efforts in the past year has
been the federal government's 2002 farm bill. The coalition advocated
for small and midsize family farms within that huge, unwieldy, corporate-farm-oriented
piece of public policy. The coalition believes the resulting bill
would have been a lot worse without our lobbying. Its next political
thrust will be the reauthorization of the Children's Nutrition Act,
where the coalition will be an advocate for community groups supporting
children's health.
Some of the groups in the coalition lobby and some work in their
communities supporting local farmers, making sure all community
members have enough to eat and advocating for healthy food, air
and water. One of the principles of community food security is that
"a stable local agricultural base is crucial to a community
responsive food system.
Farmers' markets are definitely part of the picture, but there are
other parts that probably have a larger impact. Another area of
focus is changing institutional buying and implementing subsidized
fresh food programs for eligible families. One example is the farm-to-school
program. In several cities throughout the country school food service
departments are contracting with local farmers to supply fresh,
local foods to school cafeterias. We live in a state that is among
the highest in poverty while local farmers are struggling to survive.
We've all heard about the rise of child obesity and Type 2 diabetes
in young children.
Our kids need healthy food. They need to know where food comes from
and that fresh local food tastes a lot better than food that has
traveled thousands of miles and been stored for long periods. They
need to know about the health risks associated with fast food.
These projects such as the farm-to-school programs begin with us;
with farmers, parents, schools, the health community and whoever
else is interested. We can start big or small; there are no blueprints.
Community members figure out what works. But, radical change needs
to happen for the health of our children and family farms. Radical
change doesn't just happen. It's a result of strong community voices.
Local responses with local resources are the most permanent,
sustainable solutions there are.
To learn more about Food Security, or to become involved in The
City of Albuquerque Food Security Network, click on Updates.
|
