The USDA does wonderful reports on arcane agricultural matters (maybe specialized is a better word than arcane?). Whatever. This one is about carrots. Anything you want to know about carrot production and use? Here it is.
Food deserts must be the hot new topic. USDA researchers have produced a major analysis of “food deserts,” the term used to describe low-income areas with poor access to food. According to the USDA, only about 4% of the U.S. population lives more than a mile from a supermarket but there isn’t enough research to say whether access is inadequate in areas of limited access. Oh? Maybe if the researchers had talked to people in that situation?
The report is full of statistics on poverty in the United States (check out the map of areas in the U.S. where 40% of the population lives on incomes below 200% of the poverty line). A good part of the report focuses on use of food for community development. A lot of the country could use some. The USDA might consider adding some qualitative, interview-based research to its portfolio.
And the National Academies has a report out on the effects of food deserts on public health (scroll down to read it online for free). The bottom line? More research needed.
Well, yes, but why do I think this situation needs fixing much more than it needs further research? How about asking people who live in food deserts what it might mean to them to have a supermarket within walking distance. Or am I missing some key point here?
[Posted from Fairbanks]
August 6 update: thanks to the Minneapolis-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy for producing a report on programs that have more or less successfully introduced healthier foods into small stores in the middle of food deserts. The report gives guidelines on how to do this.
It’s Earth Day and the USDA says it is going to turn the grounds of its Washington DC buildings into The People’s Garden – a sustainable landscape that will “promote healthy food, people, and communities” across the country.
Yes!
And here’s where to see what it will look like.
I can’t wait!
Food Chemical News (April 20) reports two new nominees for key food and nutrition positions at USDA: Kevin Concannon as Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, and Rajiv Shah as Undersecretary for Research, Education, and Economics. Both require Senate confirmation.
Concannon announced his retirement last April after five years as director of the Iowa Department of Human Services. The department issued a statement of his accomplishments during his five years at that job. Shah, an MD, is director of agricultural development for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He advised Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000.
The blogosphere reaction is decidedly mixed, with some for the appointments, some opposed to them, and some neutral.
I don’t know anything about either of the candidates and am eager to hear from people who do.
The USDA has just published three new reports about food assistance. The first is the 2008 annual report on these programs. The USDA spent nearly $61 billion of taxpayers’ money on food and nutrition assistance programs for low-income individuals and families last year, 11% more than in 2007. Overall, 2008 was the eighth year in a row that the total amount spent on these programs set an all-time record.
WIC (Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants, and Children) is among the most important of these programs. Even though it is not an entitlement and serves only about half of the women and children who are eligible for benefits, its enrollments are astonishing. About half of all of the infants in the U.S. are enrolled in it as are about one quarter of all children 1 to 4 years old.
Rates of obesity are higher among children enrolled in WIC than they are in comparable populations. Does this mean that WIC promotes obesity in low-income children? The evidence suggests not, but Mexican-American participants have especially high rates of obesity.
I’m still trying to get my head around what it means that half of U.S. infants are born into families so poor that they are eligible for WIC benefits. Even so, these are just the infants whose families get into the program. What about all the ones who are eligible but can’t get in because all the places are filled? Most children born in America are poor? Isn’t something wrong with this picture? And what can be done about it?
The intrepid economists at USDA* have published an analysis of what the current rise in food prices means for U.S. agriculture. Their report provides a broad overview of the causes and effects of higher food prices. The bottom line: the long-term effects are still uncertain but they will surely be worse for farmers in developing countries than for our own farmers.
But shouldn’t the USDA also be concerned about what’ will happen to Third World farmers? If we are part of a global food system, don’t we have some global responsibility?
*The USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) has produced an interactive report summarizing the kinds of research it does. See if you agree with me that the ERS does invaluable work and performs a great public service.
The Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announce the release of a new report on how to fix the food safety system. The report, Keeping America’s Food Safe: A Blueprint for Fixing the Food Safety System at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), makes a bunch of suggestions for strengthening the FDA. The FDA, it says, needs to concentrate resources on the highest risks, enforce existing rules (what a concept), establish a position with authority over all food safety programs in the agency, and work with Congress to establish a Food Safety Administration within HHS.
Wait a minute: I thought two agencies were involved in food safety regulation. Yes, HHS regulates most foods through the FDA, but the USDA regulates meat and poultry. These are not two separate food systems. Wastes from food animals (USDA-regulated) contaminate fruits and vegetables (FDA-regulated).
Don’t we need one system? I think we do.
And buried in the mess of bills submitted to Congress and currently under consideration (handily summarized by Bill Marler), are several aimed at doing just that. This is a great time to weigh in on them, especially since polls show that nearly 75% of Americans are more afraid of food than they are of terrorists.
President Obama had quite a lot to say about food safety this morning and I’m happy to say that it sounds like he gets it: the present system is outdated (it was developed a century ago), too spread out, under-resourced, and hazardous to health. He’s going to appoint a committee to make recommendations and promises that all will be fixed “under the leadership of Dr. Margaret Hamburg.” I hope she knows what she’s gotten herself into.
In the meantime, here’s his radio address and lawyer Bill Marler’s take on it. And thanks Bill for posting the entire text of the speech.
And while I’m at it, how about the USDA’s new plan to test the meat at hamburger packing plants four times a month? Is this an improvement or a clear effort to make sure nobody ever finds anything wrong? Here’s Brian Hartman’s discussion of that question at ABC News.
