From lflondon@mindspring.com Wed Apr 5 13:47:38 2000 Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2000 11:59:39 -0400 From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." To: london@metalab.unc.edu Subject: (fwd) Fwd: (sanet) Food Recovery From Farmer's Markets On Thu, 13 Apr 2000 11:39:03 -0400, in market-farming Liz Pike wrote: From: Wayne Olson Food Recovery From Farmers' Markets: A Preliminary Analysis. Collecting unsold food discarded at farmers' markets has the potential to allow nonprofit food recovery and gleaning organizations to distribute significant quantities of wholesome, unsold fruits and vegetables to needy families. Donations of this unsold produce by the participants at these markets can generate tangible benefits: increased private food assistance and better nutrition for lower income families. The Geographical Information System (GIS) analysis presented in this study indicates that there is potential to strengthen the links between farmers' markets and nonprofit food recovery and gleaning organizations in many areas of the United States. Liz Pike Morningstar Gardens Pollocksville NC ICQ # 68142830 Lawrence F. London, Jr. Venaura Farm ICQ#27930345 lflondon@mindspring.com london@metalab.unc.edu metalab.unc.edu/intergarden InterGarden metalab.unc.edu/permaculture PermaSphere metalab.unc.edu/intergarden/orgfarm AGINFO From dlippoldt@earthlink.net Wed Apr 5 13:49:21 2000 Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2000 08:25:22 -0700 From: Debra Lippoldt To: sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu Subject: Re: FW: New-at-ERS: Food Recovery Regarding the following notice just posted to SANET: Increasing Food Recovery From Farmers' Markets: A Preliminary Analysis. > Just wanted to make the point that while preventing any kind of food waste is important for all sorts of reasons, I do want to raise the question about how much increasing private food assistance is a desirable thing. I think the question is relevant to SANET because the anti-poverty/anti-hunger advocates need to be partnering more with the farming community to look at lasting solutions to hunger and poverty. There are several points I want to make: 1) The Food Stamp and WIC Farmers Market Coupon Programs actually have a better chance of increasing income through sales of food and possibly increasing farm income than a tax write-off from donations. (I do recognize that the Food Stamp program may more directly benefit food processors/manufacturers because fewer food stamps go directly to farm purchases) 2) Private food assistance is stretched to the max. It is no longer being relied upon for emergency situations- such as dealing with a flood, loss of job, etc-- It has become the safety net for poor people to make sure they have some food to eat on a regular basis. It has replaced government (read PUBLIC- that's us) responsibility for taking care of all in society). Most programs are run by volunteers and while the effort is heroic, they cannot be an ongoing regular source of food. 3) The food industry uses the emergency food assistance "industry" to discard of product that cannot be sold in stores. Since ours is such a wasteful food system to begin with, there is little incentive to hold food manufacturers to any real effort to reduce overproduction or experimentation until they realize that a product won't produce a profit at which time they will discontinue it. The foods donated don't alway provide a very nutritious diet for our most nutritionally at risk. 4) All this has led to the creation of a parallel food system in which people who can afford it choose where and what to buy and people who can't must access the emergency food system which has every stage as the retail. There are food bank farms that produce just for low income people; food banks have their own fleets of semis and local delivery trucks; food banks function as wholesale distributors, food pantries serve as the equivalent of grocery stores; soup kitchens serve as restaurants. This may seem like a very efficient system until you realize how unpredictable it all is-- what do you do when volunteers can't come in? what do you do when the food donors only gave pickles?... etc. etc. The way food in this system moves clearly cannot be as efficient as the retail system 5) Finally, the diversion of food into a separate system removes the possibility of any real income to the food/farming industry. What difference would it make to the farmer if they actually sold out at a Farmers Market because they had lots of purchasers using food stamps and WIC Coupons that the farmer could redeem for cash. The low income shopper benefits because they get to choose the produce they want rather than receiving it two days later at a food pantry that may or may not have adequate storage to maintain the produce in top quality. Bottom line- we need to rethink how we make sure those in need get the food they want in ways that are "normal" and respond to cultural and individual needs-- in my book that's the grocery/retail/farm stand options/community garden. Farmers need to get in there and support the re-institution of an effective food stamp program and increase the WIC Farmers Market Coupon Program so that we have a win-win situation. Deb Lippoldt > > Increasing Food Recovery From Farmers' Markets: A Preliminary Analysis. > > Collecting unsold food discarded at farmers' markets has the potential to > allow nonprofit food recovery and gleaning organizations to distribute > significant quantities of wholesome, unsold fruits and vegetables to needy > families. Donations of this unsold produce by the participants at these > markets can generate tangible benefits: increased private food assistance > and better nutrition for lower income families. The Geographical Information > System (GIS) analysis presented in this study indicates that there is > potential to strengthen the links between farmers' markets and nonprofit > food recovery and gleaning organizations in many areas of the United States. To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command "unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command "unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest". To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command "subscribe sanet-mg-digest". All messages to sanet-mg are archived at: http://www.sare.org/san/htdocs/hypermail