Participants recognized that family farming has long deserved a leading role in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as it contributes to at least 11 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, if not all of them. Policies, strategies, and ministries were called upon to recognize this role in contributing to the 2030 Agenda, and the need for family farmers must be part of the decision making process, including not only those that directly concern agriculture, but also those on climate change and food systems, among others.

President of the World Rural Forum, Martín Uriarte, spoke about the vulnerability of the food system to illnesses from lack of diversity and climate change. But he also acknowledged that “family farming is resilient and can and should face these challenges” with the appropriate support, including an international commitment, which he noted is fundamental to the future of the planet. 

Álvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) touched upon the importance of family farming for sustainability and food security. He noted that 70 percent of the rural population depends on small family farms of less than five hectares to have access to food.

The conference also examined the role that y​outh play in the transformation of the food system. Speakers addressed the critical need for new alliances to address environmental, social and food challenges and noted the importance of partnerships and collaborations, including public-private partnerships to strengthen systems. 

One panel, titled “New Alliances to Address Environmental, Social, and Food Challenges,” discussed how philanthropy can catalyze funds to move the needle and the need to focus on scaling deep rather than up or out. Panelists called on food system leaders to embrace diversity, value each other’s time, and position farmers at the center of systems and solutions to sustainability and food security and further recognized the leadership role of rural youth in generating employment and ensuring the stability and sustainability of family farms.  

Another session focused on innovative and effective public policies for young farmers, recognizing that the inclusion of youth is imperative to a sustainable and equitable food system. Given that family farming provides nearly 80 percent of the world’s food and the age of farmers is increasing worldwide, the need to provide youth with the political and socio-economic conditions to thrive as the next generation of farmers is critical to ensuring food security and gender equity, combating climate change, and creating a more sustainable planet.

The final day of the conference was committed to recognizing and empowering rural women and committing to gender equity in farming. Gender inequalities in rural areas need to be urgently addressed to advance female farmers, specifically in areas such as land tenure and access to funding and education, the speakers argued.

Women’s participation in the agricultural labor force varies from 20 percent in Latin America to 50 percent or more in parts of Africa and Asia, supporting the role of women can also help to achieve most of the 2030 Agenda. There is a need to both recognize the daily actions of family farmers and define them as localizing elements of the 2030 Agenda.

During the session “Family Farming Leading the 2030 Agenda: A Commitment from the Local to the Global Levels” speakers discussed how to further incorporate family farming’s contribution to the 2030 agenda, from the local to the national level. Panelists included Ms. Rossana Carolina Ayala, Vice-Minister for Family Farming, Paraguay; Ms. Fernanda Machiaveli Morão de Oliveira, Vice-Minister of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture, Brazil; Mr. Leonard Mizzi, Head of Unit Sustainable Agri-Food and Fisheries Systems, DG INTPA, European Commission; Mr. Gabriel Ferrero, Ambassador of Food Security, Government of Spain; Mr. Minoru Nishi, President and General Director, Pacific Island Farmers Organizations Network; and was moderator Alexina Cather.

Participants shared how their governments were promoting the contributions of family farmers, the social impacts of policies, and how women can be empowered in local communities to encourage greater commitment to family farming at the most local levels of administrations and governments.

And a final declaration called on everyone to recognize the “vital” role family farmers play in the food system and the need for “catalytic actions that improve the lives of family farmers while ensuring a sustainable future for all.”

The post From Local to Global: Harnessing Family Farming for a Sustainable Future appeared first on Food Tank.

The Hunter College New York City Food Policy Center will host its inaugural “Food as Medicine Summit — Bringing Everyone to the Table,” on Thursday, November 30th, 2017. The sold-out event will bring thirty-five experts to East Harlem in New York City to discuss how food can be used to heal.

The Food as Medicine Summit will explore the greater topic of food as medicine via panel sessions that highlight specific disease areas such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Additional panels will discuss how to incorporate wellness and healthy foods into treatment in communities afflicted by poverty and examine the benefits of a plant-based diet. Cooking demonstrations will be given during breaks and at lunch by God’s Love We Deliver, Euphebe, Epicured, and Wellness in the Schools.

It is often said that food is the problem in the fight to combat chronic diseases; therefore food must also be the solution. “The responsibility for a healthier future lies with no one person, group or government but rather all of us,” says Dr. Robert Graham, Co Founder FRESH Med NYC and one of the keynote speakers at the summit. To see measurable change in disease, everyone must be engaged–farmers, chefs, doctors, nutritionists, policy, community, media, and patients.

The event, co-sponsored by Hunter College Nutrition, Hunter College Nutrition Club, Dig Inn, FRESH Med NYC, Greenmarket/GrowNYC, and Epicured among others will be broadcast live (Click here to view the livestream) and also made available on the Hunter College NYC Food Policy YouTube channel following the event.

The post First Ever Food as Medicine Summit Held at Hunter College appeared first on Food Tank.

Food Tank (FT): How did you become interested in promoting gender-equitable community decision-making on land investments?

Celine Salcedo-La Viña (CS): Women constitute half of the population in the world. In some countries, for example, in Tanzania and Mozambique, there are even more women than men. It is, therefore, important to have women’s views and concerns included in policy and decisionmaking overall. In fact, one of the targets for Goal No. 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals, Gender Equality, is to ensure women’s full and effective participation at all levels of decisionmaking in political, economic, and public life. With increasing commercial pressures on land in developing countries, there is a need to ensure that women at the community level have a say in decisions that will have profound impacts on their lives, especially in terms of food security for them and their children.

With respect to our project at WRI, we saw that while there are significant efforts by the international development community and national and international CSOs to increase participation by local communities in land acquisition and investment processes—for example, the promotion of the principle of “free, prior, and informed consent” to any proposed project or investment in indigenous lands, or the development of international standards such as the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests—women have specific vulnerabilities around land investments that require specific reforms in order to strengthening their role in decisionmaking at the community level.

FT: What does the research show about gender equality in community decisionmaking on land investments? Are there significant differences among countries in various regions of the world?

CS: Research shows that women are generally excluded in decisionmaking processes on land investments. Our research at WRI focused on three countries, Tanzania and Mozambique in sub-Saharan Africa and the Philippines in Southeast Asia. But the literature shows that social and economic disadvantages faced by women in most developing countries, especially their general lack of formal land rights and secure tenure, as well as subordinate position in the household and the community, have resulted in their historical marginalization from many land use and management decisions.

FT: Why are women disproportionately affected by the loss of access to farmland and common areas from globalization and large-scale land acquisitions? 

CS: This goes to the role of women in rural economies. Women are generally responsible for growing crops for household consumption while the men plant cash crops. Most of the time, they only have use rights to the land that they farm, derived from either the husband or another male relative. When the land is acquired by an investor, women lose farmland for growing food to feed their children and often don’t get a share in the compensation paid because of their lack of land ownership.  Even when compensation is given to the household, it is usually paid to the men because they are considered the head of the household. Women also rely heavily on communal lands for resources such as water, firewood, and fodder, and wild fruits and plants are used for household consumption and to supplement livelihoods (such as selling at local markets). Loss of access to common lands means that they now have to walk longer distances or fork out money to source water and firewood, and they may no longer have access to wild fruits and plants that had supplemented the family’s nutrition. In other words, women face heavier burdens as food providers and food preparers, which impacts family food security.

Additionally, employment opportunities from investments are usually geared for men. Some favor women, but studies show that they tend to be poorly paid jobs under poor conditions and fail to make up for the land and resources lost. Women also face increased domestic violence due to increased social and economic stresses.

FT: Your recent working paper, “Making Women’s Voices Count in Community Decision-Making On Land Investments,” presents your findings from a research project with World Resources Institutes (WRI) and partner organizations to strengthen women’s rights in community decisionmaking in land investments. Can you talk about how the project worked to improve women’s rights and achieve this goal?

CS: The goal of the project is to strengthen women’s engagement or participation in the decisionmaking processes related to acquisitions or investments in indigenous or community lands in Tanzania, Mozambique, and the Philippines. Our specific approach is to promote more gender equitable national regulatory frameworks—i.e., rules, guidelines, and procedures governing land acquisitions and investments. In many cases, national laws mandate community participation in decisionmaking on land investments, but the mechanisms under enabling rules and regulations fall short of what is needed to ensure that participation is meaningful and that women, in particular, are able to exercise their rights under the law. Reforming the regulatory framework is, therefore, a critical step in empowering communities and women in communities to have a say in decisions that will impact their lives.

To achieve our goal, WRI and our NGO partners in each project country reviewed the legal frameworks—statutes and regulations—governing land acquisitions and investments, as well as practice on the ground as described in published reports and as gleaned from fieldwork in communities affected by land acquisitions. Then we identified gaps within the statutory and regulatory frameworks and between such frameworks and practice and developed evidence-based recommendations for reform that we put forward to the relevant government entities. In Tanzania, where villages are empowered to enact their own rules for village governance, including the management of village land, we developed model gender provisions that can be incorporated by villages in their by-laws. The model gender provisions have been adopted in two pilot villages, and we are now working to scale up at the district level. In Mozambique, we are worked with the civil society platform to advocate for gender language in the Community Consultation Guidelines and proposed Land Leasing Regulations. In the Philippines, we are engaged in dialogue with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples to add a gender checklist as a supplement to the Guidelines on Free Prior and Informed Consent.

Aside from advocating or pressing for the regulatory reforms we recommended, we are conducting outreach activities to engage all stakeholders—i.e., national and local governments, women and men in local communities, companies and investors, and civil society and community-based organizations—to promote awareness, buy-in and implementation of the reforms.

FT: What roles do education and promoting awareness play in supporting women’s rights in land investment decisionmaking?

CS: Awareness-raising and sensitization activities are critical for supporting women’s participatory rights. This applies to all key stakeholders. With respect to governments, there is a need to make them aware that current regulatory frameworks may be gender-neutral, resulting in women’s marginalization in the decisionmaking processes, and therefore need to be changed for investments to be socially inclusive. Government agents at the local level may lack knowledge of the legal requirements and standards codified in international instruments and will hence benefit from sensitization activities. Investors often engage with local communities through the government, but there is a need to sensitize them on tenure arrangements of lands targeted for acquisition, the legal requirements for community involvement, and international standards and best practice on participation, not only for them to do the right thing but also to avoid conflict with local communities down the road. And, most importantly, women and men in communities need to understand the acquisition process, the nature of the investment and its implications on the community, their rights and obligations under the law, and opportunities for engaging in decisionmaking. It has to involve both women and men to avoid divisions and conflict within the community or the backlash of gender-based violence.

The type of educational material or outreach activity will depend on the audience. For example, fact sheets, “how-to” guidelines, and dialogues can be used for government agents and investors, while posters, drama groups, and focus group discussions will be used for local communities. Popular media, especially radio, can be a powerful tool for educating and promoting awareness in rural communities.

FT: One of the key findings from your project’s research was “that statutory mandates on community participation and gender equality are not followed through in the regulatory frameworks, making it hard for women to exercise their rights.” What policy reforms would make it possible for women to exercise their rights?

CS: Note that all three countries espouse gender equality in their constitutions and have laws that recognize women’s customary land rights (although not explicitly worded in the Philippines). All three countries also legally mandate prior consultation of communities to secure their consent to a land acquisition or investment. However, the use of gender-neutral language in key provisions on consultation and consent, when implemented in contexts where patriarchal traditions predominate, end up excluding women in practice. This may be because male chiefs and leaders are the ones who decide for the community, or women’s subordinate status prevent them from speaking up during community meetings, or women are unable to attend the consultation meetings because they have to prepare food and take care of the children. Even progressive provisions like gender quotas in community governance bodies may end up being merely symbolic if not supported by mechanisms such as quorum requirements. It is, therefore, important to explicitly specify women as participants and stakeholders in the law and regulations if they are to participate effectively in the decisionmaking processes.

FT: What changes do you hope to see from this research project?

CS: I hope that the regulatory reforms we identified in each country, which are intended to ensure that women in local communities are able to voice their concerns and perspectives on land investments, are adopted by the government and result in actual changes on the ground.

The post Women’s Rights in Land Investment Decisionmaking: Interview with Celine Salcedo-La Viña appeared first on Food Tank.

Additionally, Dr. Gliessman is a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems and a farmer at Condor’s Hope Ranch, where his family produces dry-farmed, organically grown wine grapes and olives. Food Tank had the opportunity to speak to Dr. Gliessman about his work in agroecology and organic, sustainable farming.

Food Tank (FT): How did you become interested in agroecology, sustainable agriculture, and organic gardening?

Steve Gliessman (SG): I think my interest in agroecology began when I was a graduate student back in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was doing fieldwork in Costa Rica. It didn’t make sense to me that farmers had to abandon land after farming for a while and move to new land, cut down tropical forest, burn it, and plant new crops. It seemed to me that ecology (the science of how nature works) should be able to provide answers and options for making land productive in a more permanent fashion. I was pretty much unaware at the time of the social and economic factors involved, but the system did not seem to be very fair. After I finished my PhD, I decided to leave academia and moved to Costa Rica, where I became the manager of a small coffee and vegetable farm where we tried to farm using ecology and organic practices.

I then moved from Costa Rica to Mexico, where I took a position as an ecologist at a small school of tropical agriculture in Cárdenas, Tabasco. The college was located in the middle of a gigantic Green Revolution project, and the students being trained at the school were supposed to be able to solve any problems the project might encounter. Large-scale monocultures, high chemical inputs, hybrid seed, etc. were the norm. But surrounding the project were the small farms of traditional Mayan farmers, and once I set foot inside those farms and started talking to the farmers, with my ecological focus, an amazing intercultural conversion took place as I observed how productive, appropriate, and sustainable these traditional farms were—and we called it agroecología. For me, agroecology actually was born as a form of resistance to the Green Revolution and a way of defending small farmer knowledge and tradition. When I moved back to California in 1980 after almost 10 years, I brought agroecology with me to the University of California at Santa Cruz. The Environmental Studies Program and the organic farm on the campus made it an ideal place to start the UCSC Agroecology Program.

FT: Can you talk about agroecology and how its principles can be used to guide sustainable development in agriculture?

SG: Agroecology is grounded in ecosystem thinking and approaches, where the agroecosystem is an ecosystem with a “purpose”—a human purpose. An agroecosystem can be a whole-system way of understanding how ecological, economic, and social factors all interact. By monitoring all of these components simultaneously and over time, elements of sustainability can be determined. It is most important to understand how one factor can affect another, and that for sustainability to occur, all must be integrated in a dynamic, evolving, and changing landscape. Environmental and human needs must be met, and the important human qualities of fairness, equity, and access included. Ultimately, the three elements of agroecology must be linked—science, farming practice, and social change processes—from the soil and the seed all the way to the table, for us to move towards sustainability. Sustainable development must use the same principles.

FT: How does your research on the ecological components of sustainability in agriculture relate to the economic and social aspects of long-term food system planning and management?

SG: All components must be linked. I have personally always grounded my food system work in an understanding of ecology and the factors that provide stability and resiliency in natural ecosystems. I consider humans as not only primary parts of food systems, but also as the ones who must use agroecology to integrate social and economic aspects with ecological aspects. Long-term planning based on concepts such as resilience and resistance soon become linked to the broader issues of human well-being, food justice, food democracy, and social change. Agroecology is about much more than increasing yields and accumulating profits. By building on agroecological practices that free farmers from dependence on expensive fossil fuel-based inputs and industrialized seeds, and putting people at the center of planning and management, we can get back on the road to sustainability.

FT: In 2008, you became the Chief Editor of the Journal of Sustainable Agriculture. How does the journal increase education and awareness of the changes needed to create a more sustainable food system?

SG: In 2013, we changed the name of the journal to Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (ASFS) with the goal of making it much clearer that the journal’s primary focus is using agroecology to help move food systems towards sustainability. I use an introductory editorial for each issue to highlight some important event or issue in food system sustainability. I also explain to each author who submits a paper not suitable for the journal how his or her research could be better oriented or focused in order to be considered an agroecological investigation. I tell them that we prioritize participatory, on-farm, or community-based research that provides evidence for a shift towards sustainability.

FT: What do you see as the biggest opportunity in agroecology to fix the food system? 

SG: With its food system focus, agroecology has the opportunity to motivate change in research agendas, farming practices, and the social organization of the food system. There is a strong movement towards documenting and promoting case studies of agroecology that are providing evidence for the power of change that agroecology can bring to the food system. These examples can motivate the policy change needed to bring about systemic change in the food system.

FT: What’s the first, most pressing issue you’d like to see solved within the food system? 

SG: We need to get “culture” back into agriculture and use a food system approach in doing this. It is not just agribusiness. Our food systems must become people-centered again.

FT: What policy changes would have the greatest impact in supporting a more sustainable food system? What are your hopes for the 2018 Farm Bill?

SG: Policies that reverse the current concentration and corporate monopolies controlling the food system have to be a top priority. Control of the food system must be returned to farming communities and consumer communities, rather that keeping them so isolated from one another that both are taken advantage of in our global food systems today. My hopes for the 2018 Farm Bill are that it becomes the 2018 Food Bill, and all members of the food system benefit.

FT: How can Food Tank readers leverage their purchasing power at the grocery store to support sustainable agriculture?

SG: The people who eat the food must become more connected to the people who grow their food. Taking advantage of the wide array of alternative food networks that exist today, from farmer’s markets to CSAs, or frequenting markets or restaurants that work directly with local and organic farmers, are some of the ways. Make informed choices when you buy your food. It is much more than a label, which too often hides the truth about who the farmer is. Know your farmer! Become an activist for food system change as a consumer.

The post The Importance of Agroecology in Sustainable Agriculture, an Interview with Dr. Gliessman appeared first on Food Tank.

Food Tank (FT): What inspired you to get involved in organic farming and sustainable communities?

Betsy Fink (BF): I have a vision of healthy food grown in a manner that enhances the environment and doesn’t destroy it, a food system that understands the need for biodiversity and our ecosystems, and a farming community that treats our livestock humanely. All of these components require sharing of knowledge and educating our communities. I was inspired to understand and learn for myself to become a better philanthropist, impact investor, and citizen of this planet.

FT: You established Millstone Farm in Connecticut as an incubator for resilient solutions for community-based food systems. Can you talk about how the farm practices sustainable agriculture and emphasizes the importance of local food production?

BF: When I purchased Millstone Farm, I wanted to learn first-hand how to grow my own food and understand the ecosystem needed to enhance regional food systems. For us, a primary component in building a sustainable, regional food system is creating relationships. Relationships forge trust and drive interaction and action for improvement. As farmers we need to know where our seeds come from, who is slaughtering our livestock, and what our customers need. Millstone Farm uses best management practices, only organic products and has also become Animal Welfare Approved (AWA).

We have experienced staff who teach and train various interns, CSA members and visitors on our farming practices. This interaction with the community, whether it’s through workshops, Farm-to-Fork dinners or community events, is another key aspect of how Millstone has emphasized the importance of sustainable agriculture and local food production. After ten wonderful years helping build our regional food system and providing a platform for many activities, we are moving out of Connecticut and will sell the farm. Our greatest hope is that we find new owners who will continue to steward the land and evolve the activities, maintaining the integrity of the land and mission.

For ten years we have been focused on cultivating the land, cultivating human capital on the farm, and creating a consistent “experience” for anyone who steps on the farm, attends a conference or workshop on the property, or buys and enjoys our produce and value- added products at a restaurant, supermarket, or at home. Each Millstone Experience is another connection to the land and sustainable practices. It starts one mouth at a time, one child at a time, one school teacher or cafeteria nutritionist at a time, and believe it or not, one hedge fund manager at a time who has the “Millstone Experience” at a farm to table dinner.

FT: What do you see as the biggest opportunity to fix the food system?

BF: Right now I have great hope in the next generation taking stewardship of farmland and actively solving food issues. We have seen many young people pass through Millstone—from the Yale Harvest program students to apprentices, our Harlem Grown partners, and Fink Foundation Fellows, and many others. The more people that are directly exposed to growing food, digging the dirt, understanding the extreme challenges of farming and at the same time experiencing the reward of fresh, healthy produce, the better our chances of fixing our food system. Knowledge is key and organizations like Food Tank play a critical role as well.

FT: What innovations in agriculture and the food system are you most excited about?

BF: I am a huge fan of the “would be waste” product innovations happening right now. The ReFED Roadmap we seed funded highlighted that value-added products utilizing food that would have otherwise been discarded is one of the solutions in the food waste reduction roadmap. I know first-hand how difficult it is to grow produce and raise livestock, no farmer wants to see any of the products of their labor go to waste. So many exciting and healthy products are popping up in the marketplace. The statistics on food waste worldwide are staggering, estimates range from 30-40 percent of what is grown is wasted.

FT: You and your family manage the Fink Family Foundation. Can you talk about the foundation’s efforts to support sustainable food systems and innovations for a resilient future? What type of projects will the foundation look to back in 2017?

BF: Jesse and I had managed the Betsy and Jesse Fink Foundation for the last 15 years, beginning mostly in land conservation and farmland initiatives, we then expanded to the national and international effort around climate change. In the last ten years we went back to our roots and funded in the sustainable agriculture and food systems space, while it is inextricably tied to climate change, it was something local we could touch and feel. We concentrated much of our efforts funding in human capital and gaps that we were seeing. In 2016, we became The Fink Family Foundation, bringing on our two children, Drew and Carly, as Trustees. We look forward to the next generation leading the way; as they are innovative and compassionate about changing our world.

FT: In 2013, the Foundation began its Food Waste Program. Can you talk about the foundation’s role in directing food waste to its highest and best use?

BF: About eight years ago I was seeing first-hand a tremendous amount of food left in the fields of some of our sister farms in Connecticut. As we know at some point the labor costs are too high or market demands are too low for farmers to harvest the full field of crops, or produce the retailers might consider “seconds”. We began our own gleaning crew at Millstone, and visited other farms, and at the same time our Foundation began funding gleaning programs and social entrepreneurs innovating more efficient food recovery systems. When I would do deliveries for the farm, I also saw how much food and fresh produce was being discarded in the back of our local markets. This made me think there was something more systemic about the problem—how large is the problem and what could we learn to drive solutions? Jesse and I asked the team at MissionPoint Partners to do some initial research on the problem to uncover barriers and gaps, which lead to the ReFED (Rethinking Food Waste through Economics and Data) report.

FT: What drives you every day to fight for the bettering of our food system?

BF: A healthy food system is the ultimate path to better wellness for all people—a cleaner and safer planet, opportunities for economic growth, and a more resilient future.

FT: Can you share a story about a food hero that inspired you?

BF: I would say the one nearest and dearest to me is Annie Farrell. Annie worked with me to build Millstone. She has spent her life learning and teaching how to grow healthy food. She has been my mentor. I continually learn from her and she never stops being inspired by the world around her. Her energy and passion are endless. A few years ago she wrote an essay to represent our nation at Terra Madre in Italy, she shared it with our team and friends of the farm. I think we were all touched and it made us want to work harder for a better food future.

FT: What’s the biggest problem within the food system our parents and grandparents didn’t have to deal with?

BF: For my generation, I would say our parents and grandparents knew the food they were eating and where it came from. Food was wholesome and for the most part, they ate what was in season. Our current food system is so full of processed foods that our bodies are dealing with inputs we aren’t accustomed to that affect our health. In addition, the foods are either sprayed or modified with chemicals now that we may not know yet all the long-term health effects.

FT: What’s the first, most pressing issue you’d like to see solved within the food system?

BF: We have focused so much time and energy on the reduction of food waste because we see it as a huge opportunity to address many issues within the food system, as well as within society as a whole. Reducing food waste within the United States will decrease natural resource degradation by lowering water and chemicals usage, lead to increased and more efficient food recovery and acceptance of imperfect produce will help feed more people. Post-consumer, safely-handled unwanted food scraps can feed our livestock, diverting from landfill will build our soils by increasing composting, and for other organic waste that can’t be used for people, animals, or compost, there are methods to create renewable energy, especially in the distributed energy framework. Diverting all this organic waste will also be a huge factor in the reduction of methane. While getting healthy, nutritious food to all is the highest order, we felt like addressing the problem in a systems approach could be more effective, and fits with our philosophy of leveraging impact.

FT: What is one small change every person can make in their daily lives to make a big difference?

BF: Don’t waste food and eat less meat.

The post Engaging Restaurants and Markets to Rebuild a Regional Food System appeared first on Food Tank.

The nonprofit public charity has identified more than 100 qualified students and scientists in developing nations who are familiar with the causes of post-harvest food losses and motivated to reduce them. Contributing factors to post-harvest losses include food loss from harvesting, handling, processing, and production practices; weather conditions, transportation facilities, infrastructure, consumer preferences and attitudes; and availability of financial markets. Currently, only 5 percent of agricultural resources are invested in the post-harvest preservation of food versus 95 percent in food production. This results in a significant post-harvest “skill gap” and “technology gap” globally, especially when attempting to reduce post-harvest losses in developing countries. Contributions to scholarships for aspiring students and scientists from developing countries will provide a post-harvest education in the latest technologies for the post-harvest preservation of food. Additionally, students will conduct much-needed research on new post-harvest technologies.

Donations to the World Food Preservation Education Foundation will help provide scholarships and research funds for selected students and scientists to attend “sister” universities of the World Food Preservation Center and perform research on innovative post-harvest technologies targeted at reducing post-harvest losses in their home countries. Graduates are expected to return to their countries after completing their studies to establish independent and sustainable programs in research, education, and extension post-harvest. This specialized approach aims to be more long-term and sustainable than other programs that are dependent on outside experts from first-world nations.

The post Funding Needed for Scholarships to Reduce Post-Harvest Loss appeared first on Food Tank.

The nonprofit public charity has identified more than 100 qualified students and scientists in developing nations who are familiar with the causes of post-harvest food losses and motivated to reduce them. Contributing factors to post-harvest losses include food loss from harvesting, handling, processing, and production practices; weather conditions, transportation facilities, infrastructure, consumer preferences and attitudes; and availability of financial markets. Currently, only 5 percent of agricultural resources are invested in the post-harvest preservation of food versus 95 percent in food production. This results in a significant post-harvest “skill gap” and “technology gap” globally, especially when attempting to reduce post-harvest losses in developing countries. Contributions to scholarships for aspiring students and scientists from developing countries will provide a post-harvest education in the latest technologies for the post-harvest preservation of food. Additionally, students will conduct much-needed research on new post-harvest technologies.

Donations to the World Food Preservation Education Foundation will help provide scholarships and research funds for selected students and scientists to attend “sister” universities of the World Food Preservation Center and perform research on innovative post-harvest technologies targeted at reducing post-harvest losses in their home countries. Graduates are expected to return to their countries after completing their studies to establish independent and sustainable programs in research, education, and extension post-harvest. This specialized approach aims to be more long-term and sustainable than other programs that are dependent on outside experts from first-world nations.

The post Funding Needed for Scholarships to Reduce Post-Harvest Loss appeared first on Food Tank.

He aims to ensure global food security and to increase the availability of nutritious produce, while developing food systems that mimic nature.

Food Tank had the opportunity to speak with Joseph Simcox about indigenous crops, saving seeds, and how native plants can contribute to more sustainable ecosystems.

Food Tank (FT): Can you talk about where your passion for seeds originated? What inspired you to become a food plant ecologist and ethnobotanist?

Joseph Simcox (JS): I have been interested in plants and biology since as early as I can remember. Biology was my first curriculum. One of my earliest lessons in biology that I can remember was a phrase that my mother taught me. I was running around at three years old repeating ‘Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny.’ I didn’t understand what that meant then, but the expression influenced how I became who I am.

My earliest childhood memories include chasing insects, examining flowers, and playing with seeds. When I was four years old, I was “traumatized” when the white rice that I planted in a cake pan of mud rotted instead of grew. For my seventh birthday, I asked my parents for squash as presents rather than a G.I Joe. As the years went on, my interest in plants and flowers grew.

I studied outside of my comfort zone in college (mathematics and philosophy) but plants were always closest to my heart. Years later a dear friend and mentor encouraged me to use my passion to make a living and seed collecting became my livelihood.

FT: How do you envision wild food plants and their native habitats creating more sustainable ecosystems?

JS: I’ll use North America and specifically the states as an example to showcase my point. The United States is basically a country that has come to dominate the homeland of others. We as the “European invaders” pushed out their traditions long ago, we tried to extinguish their knowledge, and we moved them from their native lands. What is surprising to many Americans is that the United States had ancient food traditions within its boundaries, which, although they were mostly forgotten, can be resurrected because the great majority of wild food plants still survive.

Before the European colonialists came here, some 3,000 species of plants were used for food in North America, and this is excluding Mexico. Most of these edible species occurred within the confines of the United States, and what is amazing about this is that even today certain anthropologists and food experts will cite the apparent lack of edible domesticated species originating in this part of the world as “proof” that North America did not have much food plant diversity, which, of course, is and never was the case. Now, because of resurging interest in native foodways, we are provoked to revisit the edible plants that grow within our world.

I like to ask people how many domestic plants they can name that originated in the United States. Most can hardly count off a handful: sunflowers, pecans, blueberries, cranberries, and maybe strawberries. There were several plants that were cultivated by the Native North Americans like corn, beans, and squash, but they likely originated south of the border. So people know a few, but not very many when compared to the 3,000-plus species I referred to. What does this mean for us? It means that we need to re-examine those useful plants of old so that we can use them in the future. All of them are adapted to their specific places of origin and in this sense, it puts them first on the list for research, trial, and selection.

FT: You search the world for under-utilized food crops and wild edible species to promote them for cultivation and use. How can we promote these practices, which emphasize a return to our ancestral traditions, as paramount to a sustainable food system in the face of the ever-marching advancement of industrialized agriculture?

JS: I believe one way is to start by mesmerizing people with diversity. My colleague, Irina Stoenescu, and I have created a project for Whole Foods that—although it hasn’t materialized yet—is in discussion. The strategy is to introduce the marvels of food plant diversity to the stores through photos and stories of food traditions past.

We will help people discover the myriad of ways that nature condenses food and entice them to learn more about the “mysterious wild” side of eating.

The effect of such an approach is that people become more sophisticated, more involved, and more curious about what they eat. It is harder to be lackadaisical when you are armed with curiosity. The inherent danger of eating in our commercial food world is that you don’t have to think because it is all there—what companies have produced—waiting to satisfy you, tempting you to consume, even subconsciously.

You don’t have to think and ask questions if you go to McDonald’s, you don’t ponder the menu too much after a few visits; you know there is a cheeseburger, a chocolate shake, and fries. In my talks, I hope to provoke people to be curious about nature. That’s the first step, as soon as you start doing that, you hear people say, “Oh my Lord, I never knew that all this existed!” That’s what I hear when I go around the country and show them a tantalizingly beautiful cob of corn that’s really different. One thing I notice is that lack of comprehension is closely related to a lack of observation. If you look at the trails that you’ve walked in your history, you will often be surprised when you discover something new like a water tower…it may have always been there, but because you did not tune in, you never “noticed” it.

This is the same thing that happens when people are discovering the riches of nature. They have no clue. As they discover it, they start to realize that they are missing out on something, and that’s the second element—to instill in people the fear that they are missing out. So there is a marketing strategy: First of all, entice them and tell them that they are missing out. Then lead them to understand that they are missing out, and no one wants to miss out! It’s like getting half of a bag of popcorn at the theater. And that’s what people are doing—they are getting a half-empty bag as they live life in this mass-commercial way.

FT: What role does technology play?

JS: Technology is a tool. It’s just like how in the kitchen you have the things that you use to prepare food, they are the tools—the blender, the beater, the grinder, and the shredder. They are elements outside of the real picture—they are things you use. The rest of it is what you are living on. There is nothing bad about technology, it’s just that some people get obsessed with it, and I mean really obsessed. Can you imagine having a kitchen full of tools with hardly anything in the fridge to eat? That is kind of how we are living today, lots of gadgets in the “kitchen” and not very much nature to go along with it to eat.

FT: You collaborate with growers, universities, industry, governments, and non-governmental organizations around the world. How can all of these entities work together to create a more harmonious balance between man and nature?

JS: The compilation of all of us as individuals is an element of diversity, so as we each discover our relationship with nature, it multiplies a positive trend. I am thinking the inverse of corporations, institutions, and universities. I am not looking at these entities to be the changers; I am looking at people to be the change within those organizations and therefore emphasize a different point of view—that it’s not the corporations that are going to change things. That’s the follower mentality rather than the thinker mentality. The follower mentality is what is obstructing our abilities to facilitate change.

FT: You have visited more than 109 countries throughout your field research. Through all of your travels and discoveries, have you seen a common thread that identifies thriving and sustainable food systems?

JS: People who are connected with their environment, people who are connected with nature, and people who have a love for the world around them. That really is the interface between humans and nature that seems to be carried out in every single scenario where there is a synergistic relationship with nature. They love their nature, and they understand it in a way that is more mystical than we do—as industrialized modern man, or as we, the society of the United States, does.

FT: How can Food Tank readers who are not actively involved in growing their food and saving seeds advance a more sustainable food system?

Many people do not have the opportunity to grow their food, and that means that they necessarily depend on others to raise their food for them. One good start is to become curious about what you eat, curious about the plants and even the history of their use. By being informed and knowing what you are eating, we can make informed choices that ultimately affect retailers and producers. Rather than just accepting what producers offer us, it is time to tell the food “industry” what we want. Asking for new produce or buying strange looking fruits and vegetables tells the retailer that you like diversity and ultimately this tells the producer to seek it out. The trickle down effect can become a flood, and little by little, a whisper becomes a shout if repeated enough.

For those readers who are interested in raising their own food and saving seeds, I suggest that they look up a very interesting project: Gardens Across America. When I started Gardens Across America, it was to provide people with the opportunity to participate in a coast-to-coast effort to stitch America together with garden networks and to save rare and endangered food plants. I would encourage Food Tank readers to get involved with Gardens Across America and to visit my website, Explore with Joseph, for more information about seed saving, growing open pollinated crops, and preserving indigenous ones. Little by little, we all can be more inspired about nature’s riches and when that happens the world will be a better place!

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Twenty-five FAO and government technical experts will be deployed across the Philippines to support drone missions in the country, which is one of the most at-risk countries in the world for tropical storms and disasters. Earthquakes, typhoons, and floods have claimed thousands of lives and impacted farms and food systems across the archipelago, leaving people without food after disaster strikes, damaging agricultural land, and costing millions of dollars in crop losses.

The government of the Philippines and the FAO will use the drone technology for disaster risk reduction in the agriculture sector. Drones can cover up to 600 hectares per day, speeding up the risk analysis process. Drones are equipped with navigation and a camera that takes detailed aerial photos from various angles, which allow the team to generate data-rich maps and images. In addition to crop assessments, the data from drone flights can also assist the government in deciding where to build infrastructure projects that can benefit local farmers, like irrigation or storage facilities.

By providing a birds-eye aerial view of farmland, drones allow researchers and farmers to assess the full scope of the situation on the ground. According to the Philippines FAO representative José Luis Fernández, “The adoption of modern technologies in agriculture, such as the use of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles, can significantly enhance risk and damage assessments and revolutionize the way we prepare for and respond to disasters that affect the livelihoods of vulnerable farmers and fishers and the country’s food security.” The FAO is exploring other uses for drone technology in other regions for a variety of monitoring and advising purposes, including controlling pests in crop fields.

However, there are a number of challenges associated with drone technology, including cost and who will analyze the data once it is collected. Questions about where the data will go and who will be able to look at the data to interpret it and make a management decision still need to be determined.

The post How the Philippines is Using a Robot to Plan for Natural Disasters appeared first on Food Tank.

Ritz and the GBM aim to build healthy, equitable, and resilient communities by engaging students in hands-on garden education aligned to content area instruction in classrooms. According to Ritz, “Healthy children are at the heart of healthy schools and healthy schools are at the heart of resilient communities.”

In addition to improving health through garden-based curriculum, the GBM works to promote local food systems, and provide students and their families with workforce development skills. Students at Ritz’s school have grown over 30,000 pounds of vegetables—hundreds of bags of groceries inside their fourth floor classroom in the South Bronx using 90 percent less water. Vegetables are grown so that parents can come in after school for the first adult work-force development program where parents and children have the opportunity to eat and learn together and get aligned to living wage jobs.

Ritz seeks to change students’ outcomes with his locally grown initiative. For Ritz and his students it is about “inspiration, aspiration so that zip code and skin color does not determine outcomes in life but opportunities do.”

The GMB’s school-based model of engaging minds and instilling hope uses urban agriculture aligned to key school performance indicators to engage students and simultaneously improve health. Ritz and the GBM have seen positive results—targeted daily attendance rates have gone from 40 percent to 93 percent, 100 percent passing rates on New York State Examinations, and partnering towards 2,200 youth jobs.

The GBM is entering a new stage as it opens the National Health, Wellness, and Learning Center at Community School 55 in a previously underutilized library in the heart of the largest tract of public housing in the South Bronx. The surrounding community has some of the highest rates of childhood obesity, heart disease, diabetes, food insecurity, poverty, and chronic unemployment in New York City.

The National Health, Wellness and Learning Center at CS 55 is the first Career Technical Education Elementary School in the nation, featuring a year round commercial indoor vertical farm and a food processing and training kitchen with solar and alternative energy generators. A Wellness and 21st Century Workforce Development Center dedicated to serving the entire community will be open evenings, weekends, and summers. The Center will also offer professional development to colleagues and serve as a teacher-training center.

As Ritz would say, “Si Se Puede!” Schools in the Bronx can move “from impossible to on-possible!”

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