The origin of our food: Why do we care?

1. The origin of our food: Why do we care? http://ittybittyfarminthecity.blogspot.com/2010_06_01_archive.html GK-12 Global Watersheds Program, Brenda Gail Bergman, 2013

2. Guiding questions • Why should we care about where our food comes from? • In what ways might the impacts, production, and quality of food produced by small-scale local farms be different from the impacts, production, and quality of food produced far away? • How can we make food choices that are positive for our health, other humans, animals, and the environment?

3. What you will prepare for the portfolio: Why do we care? Reasons that producing and procuring our food locally can make a difference

4. Why do we care? -Energy use / greenhouse gas emissions -Human rights -Animal rights -Other environmental impacts -Nutritional value of the food

5. ENERGY USE Out of the total U.S. energy consumption, how much do you think is attributed to the food system?

6. Food transport over long distances is a recent phenomenon http://kirikiva.com/PDF/Foodmiles.pdf

8. Map for scale: Approximate average distance for vegetables to travel to reach markets, based on central place in the U.S. (~1,500 miles in 1997)

9. Map for scale: Approximate average distance for fruits to travel to reach markets, based on central place in the U.S. (~2,150miles in 1997)

10. Where the energy goes:Energy used in the food system as a proportion of total energy used in the US in 2002 Graph by Michael Bomford, based on data in Canning et al, 2010, Table 6, pp. 22-23.

11. Daily per capita energy input to the US food system -Exceeds 17,000 calories before food reaches the home. -This is more than eight times the average caloric requirement for a healthy diet. -Most of this energy is used to provide highly-processed, high-calorie foods Graph by Michael Bomford, based on data in Canning et al, 2010, Table 6, pp. 22-23

12. Why this increase? Graph by B.G. Bergman. Data source: Canning et al., 2010. Energy use in the U.S. Food System. USDA. Food is an area in which our daily decisions can make a difference regarding some of the world’s major challenges! WHAT CAN WE DO?

13. HUMAN RIGHTS www.planetmattersandmore.com • Who grows and processes your food? • What kind of working and living conditions do factory farm workers have?

14. Farm labor is exempt from most federal and state minimum wages and work-hour limitations!

15. Respondents to National Agricultural Workers’ Survey: • One-third earned less than $7.25 an hour. • 75% did not have a job year-round. (-US Department of Labor) • In 2 of the most important agricultural regions in CA: • ¼ of farmworkers live below the federal poverty line, • Between 45 and 66 % are food insecure. (-The California Institute for Rural Studies ) Farmers and farm workers suffer from increased rates of certain cancers, respiratory diseases, noise-induced hearing loss, skin disorders, chemical toxicity, and heat-related illnesses.(-www.osha.gov) Many farm workers are not formally registered. They have the lowest working and living conditions, and are not even included in most of these studies.

16. Case study – tomatoes Tomatoes are important to consider, because they make up nearly ¼ of all U.S. vegetable consumption (source: Harvard.edu) How much do you pay for a pound of tomatoes in the grocery store? Picture source: http://fat-reducingtips.blogspot.com

17. Tomato pickers in Florida are paid less than two pennies for each pound of tomatoes they pick. Over the last decade, over 1,200 victims of human trafficking were found picking produce in Florida. Kept in cramped and dirty trailers, constantly monitored, and had wages garnished to pay an invented debt Source: http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/21/your-tomato-possible-ties-to-slavery/ Sources of Action: Student/Farmworker Alliance; Fair Trade; Campaign for Fair Food

18. Animal Rights • Are there any rights that all animals should have? 80% of the meat industry was controlled by only four firms in 1988 (-USDA) Watch concentrated chicken farming (~4 minutes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enwU5jIXSlU Photo source: Examiner.com

19. How do your ideas about animal rights compare to what you saw in the video? • How can we make choices about the meat we buy if we want the animals to have a good quality of life while they are alive? http://honestmeat.typepad.com/honest_meat/2008/08/where-is-the-ra.html

20. Impacts on water example: CAFOs 1998 that Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations were a contributing source of water pollution in 20% of impaired water sources in the United States (-USEPA) Picture source: booktrope.com

21. Impacts on water example: Grapes Photo: Mexcican grape farm for export to U.S. Source: Alex Mayer, Michigan Tech University Before 1960, Americans got almost all of their grapes from California. Since, we have more than tripled our grape consumption by eating imported grapes.

22. Data source: FAOSTAT database produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

23. Mexico is among the countries exporting grapes to the U.S. In a study of a Mexican aquifer used for irrigating grapes exported to the U.S., the Mexican government found the aquifer was being depleted by over 23,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools per year. These grapes are produced by powerful rich farm owners who can lobby government for continued access to the aquifer water. The local community and ecosystems bear the consequences.

24. Annual Water Balance for the Pesqueira aquifer outside Hermosillo Mexico, used primarily for irrigating table grapes exported to the United States Data soruce: Secretaria de agricultura, ganaderia, recursos hidraulicos, pesca y acuacultura. Actualizacion del estudio geohidrologico de las subcuencas de los rios Sonora, Zonjon, San Miguel, Mesa Del Seri-la Victoria, Y Cuenca Bacoachi. Convenio No. CEA-ED-081. Convenioadicional No. CEA-ED-081-CA1. Hermosillo, Sonora. Diciembre de 2004.

25. During your grandparents’ generation, which was before this era of food imports, did people in the United States eat healthy food? • Is it possible for us to increase the amount of healthy food grown in this region and/or consumed from this region? www.nmhoney.com

26. Your health • In what ways might the nutritional value or safety of our food be affected by where it is produced? www.prosar.com 

27. Your health Source: http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/watch_your_foodometer/

28. Vine-ripened tomatoes have higher vitamin C content! -Harvard.edu

29. Factory animal farming and e-coli www.omafra.gov.on.ca  Watch: Cattle and ecoli (52 seconds) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmvrekIbe-0&list=PL11AEDB04DA38251D Hamburger processing to remove bacteria (1min, 10 sec) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIO2SnGFwMA&list=PL11AEDB04DA38251D

30. Were cows naturally designed to live in concentrated feed lots? • What do cows naturally eat? • How does • changing cows’ • food and conditions affect the nutrition and safety of their meat for human consumption? • In what ways could cows be raised so that their meat is safer for human health? • Are any farms raising cows this way? www.americangrassfedbeef.com 

31. We have great potential to make a positive change through our food choices! The movement is growing!

32. Community Supported Agriculture typically costs less than half of the cost of the same produce purchased in a grocery store. • Even in colder climates we can eat much local food. • States with the highest access to • local foods : Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Iowa. • States with the lowest access • are in the South! Texas (last), Florida, Louisiana, Arizona and Nevada. • http://www.strollingoftheheifers.com/locavore-index-2013/ • People are growing food vertically in windows and along walls, in yards and on rooftops! NPR.org

33. LET’S GROW! Biologyjunction.com

34. Organizations from whom you can learn more: • Student/Farmworker Alliance http://www.sfalliance.org/about.html • Fair Trade • http://www.fairtradeusa.org/what-is-fair-trade • Campaign for Fair Food • http://www.ciw-online.org/101.html