http://civileats.com/2011/05/23/messages-from-food-policy-from-neighborhood-to-nation/ Promoting critical thought about sustainable agriculture and food systems Tue, 21 May 2013 21:21:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://civileats.com/2011/05/23/messages-from-food-policy-from-neighborhood-to-nation/comment-page-1/#comment-13386 » Farm Bill recent news bites Catalyst Commons Wed, 01 Jun 2011 18:18:50 +0000 http://civileats.com/?p=12102#comment-13386 [...] Eats also had an overview of the nation’s first Food Policy Conference, held in Portland, [...]

]]> http://civileats.com/2011/05/23/messages-from-food-policy-from-neighborhood-to-nation/comment-page-1/#comment-13363 Brad Wilson Sun, 29 May 2011 19:17:33 +0000 http://civileats.com/?p=12102#comment-13363 The FSC priorities are better than the last ones for the last farm bill, in that they mention principles (but not specific policies) related to the biggest food insecurity issues of the farm bill on the farmer side. They’re not about local food, so they’re “Secondary Priorities.” These include: “Promote fair markets and increased competition in agriculture.” and “End policies that encourage overproduction and dumping of commodities.” The actual policies should include antitrust legislation, but more importantly price floors and supply management to protect farmers/rural areas/rural-countries/farm-exporting-countries against low prices and stop dumping. Food movement advocates will think it’s about subsidy reductions or greening, but that misses the main issues, and can lead to increased injustices. Also needed are price ceilings and reserve supplies. That seems to have gotten left out from the principles.
As to local food, the main thing that seems to be missing from CSFC’s priorities are policies/programs to help farmers get paid fairly in local food systems. The system we have now does not seem to work very well toward that end. It sometimes takes years to get in to a farmers market, and there really isn’t room for many farmers. Family Farm Defenders and others have found that local food often lacks food sovereignty, meaning fair prices.

]]> http://civileats.com/2011/05/23/messages-from-food-policy-from-neighborhood-to-nation/comment-page-1/#comment-13344 Civil Eats talks about Food Policy « marketshare-public markets Mon, 23 May 2011 21:31:58 +0000 http://civileats.com/?p=12102#comment-13344 [...] Civil Eats talks about Food Policy Messages from Food Policy Conference: From Neighborhood to Nation. [...]

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