Civil Eats

I heard California Secretary of Agriculture, A.G. Kawamura speak at a Commonwealth Club panel discussion last week. The topic: A National Food Policy – But What About the Hungry? attempted to address hunger in a transistioning national food system and included Paula Jones, San Francisco’s Food Policy Director, Paul Ash, the Executive Director of the San Francisco Food Bank, and Michael Dimock, President of Roots of Change. While the elephant in the room – how to feed people suffering from daily hunger – was difficult to pin down in terms of action and policy, it became very clear that an urban agricultural renaissance must be supported in order to meet societies’ food needs. Did you know that 2% of the population grows 98% of our food? That’s simply crazy.

A week before this panel I spoke on one with a botanist and an edible landscape gardener. I don’t purport to be an expert or have any answers to the perplexing food issues facing urban populations, or the nation for that matter, but I did cull together a list of ways to support this agricultural revolution. We all have a part to play. Read More