"Food Inc." actionable items...

Thanks to all who came out to the Bama Theatre last night and joined us for the film "Food Inc." We fed over 200 folks (sorry for the lines, but thanks for your patience) with top quality local produce - a wonderful meal that you didn't have to feel guilty about after seeing the film! Joining us were the folks from Snow's Bend, Jones Valley Urban Farm, Greene Prairie Aquafarm, and other local providers. The panel discussion was great too - lots of good questions for our panel of farmers. I mentioned last night that I would aggregate some of the resources we discussed after the film. Here goes:

Local food locators: Here in the state, you can use our very own Farm Locator Map (which is incomplete - your suggestions are always welcome!) and you can use the super handy website Local Harvest.

Sustainable Ag Resources: We're lucky to have the Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network, which is a resource that helps farmers with training programs and marketing opportunities and a whole host of other support structures. Jean Mills, one of our panelists, works for the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group which does similar work across the region. Jean mentioned last night about the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and signing up for their Action Alerts. This is a great opportunity to stay informed about policy debates regarding agriculture. Being involved politically is essential to creating a just food system.

Events: David mentioned the Eat-In we'll be having on the Quad of the University of Alabama on Labor Day. You can read more about what Slow Food USA is trying to do with that event here, and stay posted to this blog for more info. Edwin from Jones Valley mentioned a whole bunch of events coming up on their farm and he also mentioned the Alabama Food Summit in Birmingham November 12-14th. We'll have more about that here on the blog too. And, we're having another Alabama Supper on August 29th. Stay tuned for details later this week.

I personally wanted to reiterate that I liked very much the concept of voting with your food dollars. If what you saw last night opened your eyes to the problems of the industrial agriculture system, start voting three times a day. Everytime you go out to eat, ask the waiter what on the menu was grown locally and sustainably. They probably won't know, we're so far removed from this kind of thinking. But if that waiter goes back into the kitchen to ask the chef that very question dozens and dozens of times, we can more quickly change our food system. Same goes for grocery stores. As much as I was troubled by the portrayal of Wal-Mart in the film (more on that in a second) I think it's worthwhile to ask your local grocer what they could carry from local and sustainable sources. These questions can change things.

Now about Wal-Mart. I was a little frustrated with their portrayal in the film. They get off pretty much scot-free with the claim, "We'll provide local and organic food if that's what the consumer wants!" That's all well and good, and certainly jives with the economic structure of free-market capitalism, but it sits there without complication toward the end of the film. The reality is that the very existence of a corporation like Wal-Mart, that comes into the marketplace and destroys its competition through sheer size and brute force, endangers the tenants of the small scale and sustainable agriculture system and makes its viability less secure. This is alluded to at various points in the film, but I think a stronger refutation of the Stonyfield/Wal-Mart argument was thoroughly missing. The answer is not for Wal-Mart to buy all the local produce. The answer is for us to come up with small-scale solutions in our own communities that treat farmers and the land fairly. I don't think we need to overthrow capitalism in order to do this (despite my affinity for Cuba), and my father-in-law would be happy to hear me say that I think any sustainable local food system must make sense economically as well as environmentally. But in order for this to happen, there needs to be a sea change of thought about our food. As mentioned in the film last night - no one wants to buy the most cheaply made car, so why do we want to buy the cheapest food!?

Jean Mills emailed me this morning with the following thought which I'd like to share:

"One of the first CSAs (if not the first) in this country in Kimberton, PA, was formed by consumers who sought out a farmer to produce food for them. They just decided they wanted good food so they got together to make it happen - land, equipment, farmers - the whole works. If people REALLY wanted to do something major about our food choices, we'd be investing in farm business developments in our community, not just buying food from some of them when it's convenient...Seems far fetched for our community to think of doing any of this, but if we are going to make much of a difference at this juncture, I think this kind of radical thinking/action/investment is what is needed. Of course, it would be easier if we could get the federal government to shift their farm subsidies to these kinds of ventures, but..."

Thanks again to all who saw the film last night, and don't forget that it's playing until Wednesday at the Bama. Thanks to the Tuscaloosa Arts Council, Manna Grocery, and to Slow Food Birmingham for their support.

See you at the farmer's market tomorrow?

Comments

[CAC]

I attended the viewing of Food, Inc. on Sunday night and have been following your blog for some time now. I am intrigued by what you guys are trying to do and I want to commend you on your efforts. While I am still letting all of the new information that I learned on Sunday sink in, I do have one question. When you guys strictly ate local, did you not eat eggs and poultry...or is there somewhere close to purchase those items?

[Rashmi Grace]

Thanks for coming to the Food Inc. event and for following our blog. We've been getting our eggs from Jon Fleenor of Katie Farms (Coker, AL), but there are many more sources. There are a couple of farmers that sometimes have eggs at the Tuscaloosa farmers market (Tues. and Sat. mornings). You can also get eggs at Pepper Place Farmers Market in Birmingham (Sat. mornings). Chickens are a little more difficult, although we have purchased them at BC Hunt Farms (Prattville) and Rosita Farms (Hartselle). You'll also find a number of farms on our farm locator map that offer pastured poultry. Send us an email if you would like the contact info for Katie Farms or if you have any more questions.