Cultivating Common Ground between Sustainable Agriculture and Public Health

1. Cultivating Common Ground between Sustainable Agriculture and Public Health MOCAN Food Systems Work Group April 27, 2011

2. Sustainable Ag & Public Health

3. What is sustainable agriculture? • Local • Organic • Food Secure • Fair Trade • Agriculture (and food system) that promotes profitability, stewardship of the land, air and water, and quality of life for farmers, ranchers and their communities. (www.sare.org) • Fresh, local • Food security • Equity

4. Building on Success

5. Provide fresh food in health care institutions Goal • Freeman Health System will contribute to improving the health of Southwest Missouri residents by increasing and promoting the availability of nutritious food and beverages served to patients, employees, and the public • Increase the amount of fresh, locally and regionally grown healthy foods, especially produce, in Freeman Health System meals by 20%.

6. Getting the Supply: • List of local farmers to supply fresh produce • Working with US Foods Purchasing • Farm to Institution Workshop-provided connections

7. Immediate Actions • Healthcare Without Harm Healthy Food in Healthcare Pledge • Grass fed MO beef • Increasing produce on salad bar • Eliminated fried food • Fruit cups selling more than other desserts • Patient food satisfaction highest ever

8. Ensure Fresh Food in Every Neighborhood • Build six new citizen-managed food producing garden hubs. . • Build 15 small, intensive food gardens at child daycare centers. • Increase knowledge of advanced urban food production • Encourage hubs to be centers for advocacy and policy change around food and land use issues. • Vacant land used for urban food production regarded as appropriate land use.

11. The Story of Old North St. Louis

12. Creating a Food Supply: Urban Farming

13. Creating a Food Supply: Community Gardening

14. Distribution: Farmers Market

15. Increasing Distribution Community asset

16. Addressing the Food Desert

17. Community Demand

18. Promote agricultural subsidies forfresh food • Number of acres devoted to fruit & vegetable production in US is about 2.5% of total cropland • Successful policies: • Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program that provides WIC and Senior coupons for use at market • Waiver for states to certify Farmers’ Markets or Farmer Cooperatives as WIC vendors – but can be important for other programs as well • Policy propositions for 2012 Farm Bill • Safety net for fruit and vegetable producers both in natural disaster situations and for risk management tools • Removal of prohibition of planting fruits/vegetables on program crop land

19. Eliminating Use of Sub-Therapeutic Antibiotics • Support producers that prohibit or place meaningful limits on the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture: • Hospitals can source products that have : USDA Organic, American Grassfed, Animal Welfare Approved, Certified Humane Raised & Handled, Food Alliance Certified, Raised Without Antibiotics or No Antibiotics Added. • Example: Many Missouri farmers selling through producer networks like U.S. Wellness Beef, Niman Ranch, Patchwork Pork and others do not allow the use of antibiotics – except for sick animals which tend to be culled from the marketing channel. Many farmers producing for farmers’ markets follow protocols similar to those required by the labels above, BUT ASK if you’re not sure.