Oakland Food Policy Council fights for access, an equitable food system
By: Karmah Elmusa in Oakland North - April 12, 2012
Like many urban areas, Oakland is home to a great divide between its privileged neighborhoods in the hills and the lower lying flatlands. The divide is visible in the median income, but it’s also striking when it comes to the issue of food, and more specifically, the availability of fresh food. According to a 2009 survey put out by the HOPE Collaborative, in the hills there’s one supermarket for every 14,000 residents. In the flatlands, there’s one to every 93,000 residents.
Quinoa: The Andes' Virtuous Wonder Food Gets Down and Dirty
By Jean Friedman-Rudovsky / Challapata Tuesday, Apr. 03, 2012with
Read the original article in Time Magazine at http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2110890-1,00.html
Farmers, protestors struggle against GMO giant Monsanto
by Sharon Abercrombie on Mar. 16, 2012 Eco Catholic, National Catholic Reporter
When environmental writer and entrepreneur Paul Hawken wrote Blessed Unrest in 2007, he estimated that there were close to 2 million activist organizations, secular and religious, working worldwide to heal the wounds of the earth.
Five years later, given social media and growing consciousness, it is probably safe to guess the 2 million is expanding outward to include even more willing, generous hearts. We need them badly.
Rebuilding local food systems
Oakland aims to rebuild local food system one farm at a time.
By Angela Woodall
Oakland Tribune - 02/12/2012
Calling Oakland a food desert ignores a landscape of farmers markets, community gardens, food-justice startups and small stores that are trying to counteract the rising tide of obesity and diet-related diseases.
But residents in low-income districts still do most of their shopping at corner stores and supermarkets, where in 2008 West and East Oakland residents alone spent $369 million, according to Hope Collaborative, a coalition of food-access advocates.
Occupy turns to food justice
by Jake Olzen | March 2, 2012, 2:08 pm
Read the original.
Occupy the Food System—the day of action for food justice on February 27—could be the beginning of a broad-based food justice movement that is global in scope but local in action. A unique coalition of food justice workers, consumers, farmers and activists, organized by Rainforest Action Network, momentarily converged under the banner of ending the corporate exploitation of our food system for a day of protest and consciousness-raising.
Occupy the Food System: Construction or Protest?
Spanish translation below.
Huffington Post, Feb 24, 2012
By Eric Holt-Giménez, Food First
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-holt-gimenez/occupy-the-food-supply-c...
From Food Monopolies to Food Commons
By Eric Holt-Giménez
Published by Slow Food USA and reprinted by Slow Food Europe
October 4, 2011
Calls for food sovereignty, food justice and even “food democracy” are ringing from fields to kitchens around the world. In the face of the recurrent food and diet crises plaguing our planet, farmers, farm and food workers, consumers—politically engaged citizens—are struggling to regain control over their food systems. Why?
Could more-nutritious crops help fight hunger?
The Gates Foundation is spending millions on programs to boost nutrients in the crops many Africans rely on. The approach epitomizes Gates' belief in the power of science to combat hunger. But some experts are skeptical that such tech-heavy approaches will make much of a dent in malnutrition.
By Sandi Doughton
Seattle Times science reporter, August 7, 2011
Cali, Colombia-
Steve Beebe dreams of the perfect bean the way some men dream of the perfect sports car.
It goes without saying it would be delicious. High-yielding, too. But Beebe's ideal legume would also be far more nutritious than your average pinto.
"You would want to eat it every day," he said, squatting between rows of bush beans to finger the leaves of one potential candidate at a research station outside Colombia's third-largest city.
Urban Land Grabs in the United States
May 16, 2011
Urban Land Grabs presentation by Eric Holt-Giménez featured in Humanitarian News.
Why land grabs in Detroit and Oakland?
This article was also picked up by AidNews, News on Development, Aid and Humanitarian Topics.
