What is the 30 Project?

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Posted by: Ellen Gustafson

A few weeks ago, the FEED Foundation launched the 30 Project, a new campaign to look holistically at the global food system and address the problems of 1 billion people hungry and 1 billion people overweight in the world.  Our first announcement of the project was at TEDxEast as a TED talk I gave...watch it here!  More info will be coming soon and we cant wait for our whole FEED community to help us address the dramatic dichotomy of hunger and obesity.  It's time for a new system where we can ALL eat healthier food! 

New Agri-fund launch

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Posted by: Nicole Sexton

Bill Gates and Geithner to launch agri-fund for poor

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/21/AR2010042105237.html

Famine closes schools in southern Niger

Monday, April 05, 2010

Posted by: Nicole Sexton

(AFP) – 3 days ago

NIAMEY — Pupils are no longer going to school in the south of Niger because of serious food shortages that have hit the poverty-stricken west African country, the government announced Friday.

"Because of the food insecurity that prevails in our country, cases of mass abandonment have been registered in some schools," the government said in a published statement after a cabinet meeting Thursday.

The abandoning of classes was reported particularly in the Takieta district in the central southern Zinder region, where primary schools were totally or partially empty.

The government described the situation as "very worrying" and said that the "departures are the consequence of the exodus of families" faced with severe food shortages.

The statement was the first official report of peasant farmers leaving their homesteads because of famine. The Zinder region is one of the worst affected by the food crisis that has struck Niger this year.

The population of several Sahel nations in west Africa has endured chronic malnutrition for years and has been plunged into potential starvation because of the lack of rain in 2009.

According to the charity Oxfam, this crisis could affect "almost 10 million people" in coming months.

The case of Niger is particularly worrying. Fifty cases of children dying of starvation have been reported by the authorities since January.

On March 10, the transitional prime minister named by a military junta in power since February, Mahamadou Danda, launched a "pressing appeal" for help to the international community.

Copyright © 2010 AFP.

Federal action needed to restore domestic food system

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Posted by: Nicole Sexton

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-callicrate/break-up-the-meatpacker-r_b_519277.html

Mike Callicrate is an independent cattle producer from St. Francis, Kansas

The last thirty years have been tough times for independent livestock producers.

For decades, in addition to the hard work of keeping our farm and ranch operations running each day, we have literally been in a fight for our lives and for the life of our industry. We have lost our markets. Only the illusion of a market remains. When we lose our markets, we lose our farms and ranches, and America loses its food supply.

Ten years ago I downsized and reinvented my cattle operation to sell more directly to consumers, thereby avoiding what I saw as certain death in dealing with the big packers and retailers. My place in the production process came after the cattle left the ranch, at the final step before the packinghouse, where cattle are grown to around 1,250 pounds. This part of the production chain has become a bottleneck. With only four packers controlling over 85% of the market, few choices exist for selling cattle. Thirty years ago I could have sold to as many as twenty packers as compared to one or maybe two today. It was my responsibility to get the highest price for cattle that I could; instead, I felt complicit in a massive transfer of wealth from failing farmers and ranchers to the highly concentrated and profitable processing and distribution sector.

I, along with many other farmers and ranchers, have fought to free producers from the big meatpacker chains through public and private legal action and legislative efforts, all to no avail.

We have lost over 40% of our cattle producers, 90% of our hog producers, and 80% of our dairy operations in the last thirty years, along with most of our small to medium-sized packers and processors. An economic and social decline has ensued in rural America. Take the example of my home, St. Francis, Kansas, which now has half of the number of kids in its schools compared to 30 years ago.

Producers and consumers both lose in this out-of-control, unregulated marketplace. Consumers are paying record high meat prices while producers, who invest far more in capital, land, and labor than others, now receive the smallest ever share of the food dollar.

This administration has promised to rebuild rural America, our source of good food and wealth. The Justice Department and USDA recently held the first of several workshops in Ankeny, Iowa, showing a renewed interest in antitrust law enforcement, an important first step in restoring a competitive marketplace. However, this is a far bigger task than most people realize. Our processing and distribution infrastructure has been dismantled, and -- once lost -- is extremely difficult and costly to resurrect.

The traditional family farm food system that has fed America both nutritionally and financially has been displaced by an extractive and exploitive industrial system controlled by a handful of corporations. This is the same system capable of rapidly spreading food borne illnesses with the speed of assembly line style processing and the efficiency of national food service distribution. Excessive profits come before good food, healthy people, and our national interests. We are now a net food importer depending on arriving ships and trucks from somewhere else, for something to eat. How secure is a nation unable to feed itself?

An important point that is totally overlooked today is that the biggest retailers and food distributors are squeezing the few big packers and processors left with their big-buyer (monopsony) power. Packers are finding it more profitable to align with retailers, leaving producers the scraps. The number one beef and pork packers, Tyson and Smithfield, have both acknowledged their weakness in dealing with Wal-Mart.

USDA's "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" initiative combined with aggressive antitrust enforcement has great potential in laying the foundation for rebuilding broken communities while providing abundant supplies of good local food. The goal of this antitrust effort cannot fall short. Anything less than the total breakup of the meat packer/retailer cartel will leave independent producers and any new processors easy prey, with essentially no chance of success.

Like the Roosevelt "trust-busting" actions of 100 years ago, today's antitrust law enforcement will provide the foundation for a return to free enterprise, bringing new life to both rural and urban communities. The USDA must also redirect government farm support dollars away from industrial agriculture to the support of local and regional food systems. A safe and friendly business environment is essential for both public and private investment in a new food system.

Many diverse family farms producing good food and receiving fair prices from a competitive marketplace is absolutely critical to the health and future of our nation.

Mike Callicrate is an independent cattle producer from St. Francis, Kansas, marketing his beef through his company, Ranch Foods Direct, in Colorado Springs, Colorado

Sign Jamie's petition to save cooking skills and improve school food.

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Posted by: Nicole Sexton

Join FEED and sign the petition
http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution/petition

Association of 55,000 school nutrition professionals pledges to support Let's Move! Campaign

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Posted by: Kristina Fell

The School Nutrition Association is a national, nonprofit professional organization representing more than 55,000 members who provide meals to students across the country. SNA's pledge to First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Campaign includes:

Increase the number of school nutrition programs that have achieved U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Healthier US School Challenge

Encourage school nutrition directors to partner with the Center for Disease Control’s Coordinated School Health Programs to improve the school health environment

Challenge school nutrition program directors to accelerate the time frame for meeting the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) National Nutrition Standards for school meals

Advance nutrition education opportunities for all students.

 

Michelle on a Mission: How we can empower parents, schools, and the community to battle childhood obesity.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Posted by: Kristina Fell

By Michelle Obama | NEWSWEEK

Published Mar 14, 2010

From the magazine issue dated Mar 22, 2010

For years, we've known about the epidemic of childhood obesity in America. We've heard the statistics—how one third of all kids in this country are either overweight or obese. We've seen the effects on how our kids feel, and how they feel about themselves. And we know the risks to their health and to our economy—the billions of dollars we spend each year treating obesity-related conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

But we also know that it wasn't always like this. Back when many of us were growing up, we led lives that kept most of us at a pretty healthy weight. We walked to school every day, ran around at recess and gym and for hours before dinner, and ate home-cooked meals that always seemed to have a vegetable on the plate.

To read the full article:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/234885

Check out FEED on CBS Evening News

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Posted by: Ellen Gustafson

FEED will be featured on CBS Evening News with Katie Couric tonight in their The American Spirit series!

Vanity Fair, the FEED Foundation, and Hungry in America Event Details

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Posted by: Kristina Fell

On Sunday, February 21, Vanity Fair, the FEED Foundation, and Hungry in America partnered together and created an amazing event to help raise funds for the upcoming documentary "Hungry in America," an in-progress documentary about food insecurity in our country. The evening was hosted by Tom Colicchio and Natalie Portman and joined by over 300 people at Colicchio & Sons, Tom's newest restaurant in the Meatpacking District of NYC. 

Much to the delight of everyone, Chefs Tom Colicchio, Michael Schlow, and Rocco Dispirito spent the entire evening serving guests from the wood-burning oven at the front of the restaurant, and later on in the evening guests saw a sneak preview of the latest "Hungry in America" trailer.

Attendees at the event included Jake Gyllenhaal, Kelly Rutherford, David Lauren, Josh Charles, Matthew Settle, Katie Couric, and John Forte, along with the Hungry in America filmmakers Lori Silverbush and Krist Jacobsen, and FEED co-founders Lauren Bush and Ellen Gustafson. 

But of course, the best part of the night was the preview launch of the FEED USA bag - guests left the night with their very own, 100% organic cotton FEED USA tote in hand! 

Thanks to everyone for such a great and successful night!


For photos of the event, check out this link!

Read Ellen's Huffington Post Impact News Article - She's Now a Featured Writer!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Posted by: Kristina Fell

FEED's cofounder, Ellen Gustafson, is now a featured writer for the Huffington Post! Her first article is on the front page of the Impact News section of the blog. She tells the story of how FEED was started and delves into our upcoming projects, including the FEED USA line along, with the launch of the FEED Haiti bag, now sold exclusively on our website. Her passion for food policy and changing the food system for the global community, along with ongoing updates on FEED Projects, will be highlighted twice a week on HuffPo, so be sure to bookmark the page and check back in each week!