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Urban Farming Combats Food Deserts In Southeast Fort Worth With Community Empowerment
On the western edge of Glencrest Civic League in Southeast Fort Worth sits a property that soon could become an epicenter of education and agriculture for the community.
By Brooke Colombo
August 5, 2021
On the western edge of Glencrest Civic League in Southeast Fort Worth sits a property that soon could become an epicenter of education and agriculture for the community.
There sits a three-and-a-half-acre farm, Mind Your Garden, manned by husband and wife Steven and Ursula Nuñez, 38.
Several days a week, Steven heads to local grocery stores to pick up their unsold and undesirable produce. Much of it is still in edible condition while the rest is buzzing with flies and dripping with juice as the pair unload the crates to weigh them.
“It’s a lot of work. It’s hard work,” Ursula said. “But it’s good work and we like to work and it’s therapeutic.”
Today’s haul was on the high end for the farm. The most they’ve received is over 1,000 pounds. of discarded produce. The couple composts the produce to use as fertilizer.
They’ll add it to their terraced gardens to prepare the soil for planting in fall. For now, they’re sowing the seeds for an urban farm, with which they hope to combat food scarcity and promote healthy living.
Steven loads and unloads produce onto a scale. His truck bed was full with various fruits and vegetables, some still in edible condition. (Brooke Colombo | Fort Worth Report)
Cardboard from the discarded produce and recycled wood make up the terraced beds. The Nuñezes try to make the farm as sustainable as possible. (Brooke Colombo | Fort Worth Report)
Steven turns over the soil in the terraced garden beds to show how the compost enriches it. While they weren’t planting anything for the summer, some of the composted produce has sprouted new plants. (Brooke Colombo | Fort Worth Report)
In 2013, the Nuñezes bought the property, which once belonged to Steven’s parents. The house on the property eventually became their home. But Steven always planned to make the backyard into a garden.
Steven’s passion and expertise began when he studied abroad in Guatemala, where he learned about urban agriculture. He then attended a workshop from the National Center for Appropriate Technology designed to teach veterans about agriculture.
These experiences inspired him to pursue a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Texas at Arlington. Steven and Ursula also received certifications in permaculture and Ursula has a background in education.
The Nuñez family sits in their backyard where they have coffee each morning and brainstorm ideas to serve their community. Steven said the farm is his greatest passion and they want it to be their lifestyle and business. (Brooke Colombo | Fort Worth Report)
While looking for a thesis topic, Steven learned about food deserts in Southeast Fort Worth, where some residents didn’t have sufficient access to food. The Nuñezes said they feel the best way to address this is through an educational shift in the community.
“Food is what brings all of us together,” Steven said. “We can be a facilitator for the community to come in and have healthy food options and the education and social community building aspect.”
Mind Your Garden is now one of a handful of community gardens in the Grow Southeast network, an independent initiative that helps farms reach success.
About Glencrest and Southeast food deserts
Not all of Southeast Fort Worth is a food desert, but some of its census tracts meet the federal definition for one. In order for a census tract to be a food desert, according to the USDA’s Food Access Research Atlas, it must meet two criteria:
The poverty rate must be 20% or higher, or the median household income must be at or below 80% of the median household income for the region.
At least 500 people and/or at least 33% of the households must live more than a half-mile from a large grocery store or supermarket in urban areas.
Food deserts usually have an abundance of convenience stores, fast-food restaurants and liquor stores.
A QT, Popeyes and Burger King sit on the Southbound side of HWY 287. The majority of food sources for the Glencrest Civic League are located in this area and are fast food, liquor or convenience stores. (Brooke Colombo | Fort Worth Report).
Save A Lot, located at 3101 E. Seminary Drive, is the only grocery store within the neighborhood’s boundaries. It’s considered a small grocery store and only part of its half-mile service radius extends into the neighborhood boundaries. (Brooke Colombo | Fort Worth Report).
Foodland is a large grocery store located at a Foodland at 3320 Mansfield Highway. It is the only large grocery store within a half-mile service radius of Glencrest Civic League. But just a small portion of the neighborhood is in this radius. (Brooke Colombo | Fort Worth Report)
Linda Fulmer, the executive director of Healthy Tarrant County Collaboration, who partners with Grow Southeast, has lived in Fort Worth since 1980 and remembers the shift of Southeast Fort Worth to a low-income area.
“(Southeast Meadowbrook) was an aging community with homes built in the 1930s and 1940s that were mainly occupied by aging original homeowners,” she said. “At that time there were eight grocery stores within three miles of my little house. Today only one of those stores remains in operation.”
Original homeowners in the area died or moved away, and the homes became available for rent by lower-income families. Many residents take their money to stores outside of the area, Fulmer said, which “erodes the shopper public for what stores remain.” Grocery stores are not a high-profit business, she said, so the stores look for a high density of residents with disposable income.
Glencrest Civic League is about five miles southeast of downtown Fort Worth and South of Highway 287. There is one small market (a Save A Lot food store at 3101 E. Seminary Drive) and one large grocery (a Foodland at 3320 Mansfield Highway) within a half-mile-service radius of the neighborhood limits.
Both are located at the southernmost edge of the neighborhood, making them less accessible to the majority of the neighborhood. Steven’s thesis, published in December 2018, found 70% of the neighborhood’s food sources are located at its southernmost tip. His thesis also found 9% of residents did not have at least one vehicle for their household.
“Part of understanding food insecurity is also understanding the demographics of the communities,” said Jesse Herrera, CoAct’s founder and executive director, who works with Grow Southeast. “Historically, there have been effects one could attribute to redlining or other systemic oppressions that have led our communities to the path they’re on.”
With 29% of households below the poverty line, Glencrest Civic League is considered a low-income neighborhood, according to census tract data. This is about double the poverty rate in Fort Worth (14.5%) and more than double the rate in Tarrant County (12%). Sixty-one percent of residents have a household income under $50,000.
The neighborhood is 56% Black, 36% Hispanic, 4% white, 2% Asian and 2% Pacific Islander. Of its 466 residents, 11.6% of the population has veteran status.
While lack of food options is an issue, so too is poor infrastructure. A lack of sidewalks, lack of exterior lighting and inefficient or insufficient bus routes can make it difficult to access food, Herrera said.
“If your food takes you an hour, two hours, three hours to get to and from there — that’s assuming these routes would actually be open by the time an individual gets off work— that’s part of what leads to food scarcity,” Herrera said.
The area’s economy affects food insecurity. Herrera said it’s harder to come across well-paying jobs in the southeast. Money goes toward rent first, and putting food on the table can be difficult with a minimum wage job.
The effects of food insecurity and little access to nutritious food have greater implications for the residents’ health, as Steven and Ursula have experienced.
“Steven’s family has a history of diabetes, and my family has a history of heart disease, which are both food-related diseases,” Ursula said. “I didn’t understand that with the food you consume, there are effects to unhealthy eating.”
A healthy diet can lead to a longer life, lower risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and some cancer, as well as help with chronic diseases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Steven and Ursula said despite exercising and training for marathons, it wasn’t until they changed their eating habits — cutting out alcohol and turning to a plant-based diet — that they saw a difference in their health.
How community urban farms address food scarcity
Though putting more grocery stores with healthy, affordable options in a more accessible place seems like the obvious solution, Nuñez suggests in his thesis this would have little effect on the buying choices of residents. The biggest factors are cultural background, tradition, education, custom and habit, his thesis argues.
“The whole nutritional education is extremely important,” Steven said. “It’s a long and tough journey to live a healthy lifestyle. For our community, some people just don’t know how to cook or eat healthily. They see fast foods and convenience as their only option. They need that strong support from their community to be successful.”
Community farms aren’t just about selling produce to residents, Herrera said. Rather, the farms also empower residents and boost the local economy to lift these communities out of poverty.
Once the farmers are equipped with successful business models, the farms could create opportunities for secondary and tertiary markets like neighborhood composting services and niche restaurants or cottage industries, he said.
“We’re looking at this through the lens of entrepreneurship and trying to create resources that support,” Herrera said. “These farms have the ability to create a lot of jobs.”
The future of Mind Your Garden
Steven points to a map they’ve created for the future layout of the farm. This includes plans for an orchard, a chicken coop and additional terraced garden beds. (Brooke Colombo | Fort Worth Report)
Ursula and their daughter Alejandra walk across their backyard from their home. The house, built in 1948, was the first property on the block. This space behind it will serve as a workshop and classroom to educate residents when the farm opens to the public. (Brooke Colombo | Fort Worth Report)
A retention pond is on the Northside of the property. The pond existed before they purchased the property. They plan to deepen it with the money they won in the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s pitch competition. (Brooke Colombo | Fort Worth Report)
Though it’s not open to the public yet, Steven and Ursula have already planned how they want to get the community involved on the farm.
They have a handful of volunteers helping build infrastructure to ready the farm for planting and a public opening. Preparing for the fall has been more than just physical labor, he said. Farming has allowed him and the volunteers to dig deep with each other.
“It’s a therapy session when we’re out here,” Steven said. “We’re out in nature. We’re working, sweating, talking about food insecurity and health. By the time they leave, we’ve had a pretty deep conversation. That’s definitely the community outreach aspect of it.”
To provide that experience to other residents, they intend to have gardening spaces where the community can get their hands dirty, as well as outdoor classroom space.
They will have a “healthy hour,” which will be like a happy hour focused on inviting the community over to eat and discuss their health.
“When we went plant-based and stopped drinking alcohol, we realized almost every social thing revolves around eating or drinking,” Steven said. “There’s a need for people looking to have a healthy lifestyle but still want to socialize.”
The Nuñezes said it’s an honor to be able to provide for their community and share what their farm will have to offer.
“This is a lifestyle business, not a part-time business or hobby. This is our life,” Steven said. “It means so much to us to get to express ourselves, our creativity, and be of service.”
Lead Photo: Ursula and Steven Nuñez unload hundreds of pounds of discarded fruit from local grocers to weigh. This fruit will get composted in the pile behind them to create nutrient-rich soil for planting. (Brooke Colombo | Fort Worth Report)
Second Chances Farm Secures $1.5M Investment, Eyes Growth
The company, founded and led by the well-known fundraiser and marketer Ajit George, seeks to solve several different societal issues at once, including recidivism, climate change, unemployment, and food insecurity
July 20, 2020
Caleb Brown checks on some of the plantings at Second Chances Farm in Wilmington. The company is receiving increasing investment and attention. | DBT PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
WILMINGTON – For Second Chances Farm (SCF), what began as a dream just a few years ago has quickly turned into a growing spotlight, increasing financial strength and the hope of one day replicating its burgeoning successes elsewhere.
The company, founded and led by the well-known fundraiser and marketer Ajit George, seeks to solve several different societal issues at once, including recidivism, climate change, unemployment, and food insecurity. It does so through vertical farming, or the indoor, hydroponic growing of plants, and exclusively hiring those leaving prison.
After opening in late 2019, the state’s first vertical farm began tending more than 60,000 plantings in February. To date, it has hired two dozen former inmates, which gained the attention of the Trump administration.
Founder Ajit George wants to address many societal issues through Second Chances Farm. | DBT PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
Earlier this year, it was featured in a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report on Opportunity Zones, a redevelopment program that focuses on underserved communities through tax-deferred investments. Located in the Riverside community in Wilmington’s northeast, SCF is located in an Opportunity Zone, which has helped it attract investors.
On July 20, two appointed members of the Trump administration attended a showcase for the company that highlighted its journey and growth. More than a dozen of the employees – who include Blacks and whites, men and women, Delaware natives and transplants, high school dropouts and a Harvard University grad – shared their personal stories for Scott Turner, executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, and Pastor John “Tony” Lowden, executive director of the Federal Interagency Council on Crime Prevention and Improving Reentry.
“Being here is not a second chance, it saved my life. It’s a last chance,” said Kalief Ringgold, who served years in prison after falling into Wilmington’s drug dealing and thanked SCF with helping him to turn his life around.
“We have a remarkable group of saints who used to be sinners,” George added, noting that five employees have begun a yearlong, entrepreneurs–in-residence program.
Food Insecurity Rates Vary Across States
USDA monitors the extent of food insecurity in U.S. households at the national and State levels through an annual U.S. Census Bureau survey
USDA monitors the extent of food insecurity in U.S. households at the national and State levels through an annual U.S. Census Bureau survey. Food-insecure households are defined as those that had difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all of their members due to a lack of resources.
Food insecurity rates vary across States because of differing characteristics of the population, State-level policies, and economic conditions. Data for 2016-18 were combined to provide more reliable State statistics than one year alone would provide.
The estimated prevalence of food insecurity during 2016-18 ranged from 7.8 percent of the households in New Hampshire to 16.8 percent in New Mexico with a national average of 11.7 percent. In 12 States, the prevalence of food insecurity was higher than the 2016-18 national average, and in 16 States, it was lower than the national average. In the remaining 22 States and the District of Columbia, differences from the national average were not statistically significant.
This map appears in the Food Security and Nutrition Assistance section of the Economic Research Service’s Ag and Food Statistics: Charting the Essentials.
Horti Daily | Tuesday, May 12, 2020
PAKISTAN: Responding Creatively To Crisis With Non-Traditional Farming
Vertical gardens and microgardens have enjoyed new popularity in recent years, which the COVID-19 pandemic may catalyze further
27/05/2020
Rehman produces okra, gourds, melons, and tomatoes in the two tunnel garden units he built in the back yard of his home in Aka Khel, a town in one of Pakistan’s most food-insecure regions. Each less than a meter wide, these creative and economical structures are a type of low-technology greenhouse, consisting of steel tubes clad with a plastic covering and lined with irrigation hoses.
FAO helped him install these earlier this year and now “it’s a relief at a time when markets and transports are closed due to the pandemic,” he says. He is one of the millions of people around the world responding creatively to mitigate the pandemic’s disruptions to the food supply chain, which risk making food less available where it is needed most due both to logistical bottlenecks and declining incomes triggered by the health emergency. In this scenario, solutions that shorten the food supply chain, including vertical and urban farming have taken on new importance.
Despite the fact that prices for wheat and rice, staple foods for Pakistani families, rose sharply in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province due to COVID-19 restrictions on movement, Rehman was still able to feed his family. With the produce from his garden, they also have a more diversified diet. FAO, working with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), also helped 75 of Rehman’s neighbors build tunnel farms, which help lengthen cropping seasons, intensify yields and boost local availability of fresh nutritious produce. Rehman says his tomato plants are producing five to ten times as much as they would in an open field.
Farming vertically
Vertical gardens and microgardens have enjoyed new popularity in recent years, which the COVID-19 pandemic may catalyze further. The former are often high-tech urban facilities allowing vegetables to grow indoors or outdoors using hydroponics while the latter are tiny farming plots that fit in urban settings. Both can offer high-yield opportunities to grow leafy green vegetables and other high-value food crops. Restaurants are even engaging in a type of microgarden, also called “precision indoor farming”, thanks to a company in Budapest, Tungsram, that was the first to patent the modern light bulb. Today it produces a closet-sized cabinet with computer-controlled lighting and temperatures and an integrated hydroponics system that allows businesses to create their own indoor gardens with minimal labor. Vertical farms, on the other hand, are often large urban operations, housed in old warehouses or basements. Some practitioners can even duplicate conditions needed to grow the world-famous basil from Italy or the prized Omakase strawberry from Japan.
But vertical farming isn’t just a trend in developed countries. In Kibera, a densely populated part of Nairobi, households use sack gardens made from local sisal fibers to grow onions and spinach without blocking alleyways. In Kampala, locals stack wooden crates around a central composting chamber and use old plastic water bottles for a precision-drop irrigation system to grow kale.
In Dakar, FAO helped galvanize microgardens as a food and nutrition strategy for poor households vulnerable to malnutrition. Today the city, with the participation of thousands of middle-class families, runs that program, which relies on one square meter structures made of coconut fibers to facilitate soil-less cultivation. “It’s ideal for short-cycle, high-value horticultural crops, including mushrooms and spices,” says Rémi Nono Womdim, Deputy Director of FAO’s Plant Production and Protection Division.
There are a host of extra benefits compared to open-field farming, including the possibility to reduce water use, limit pesticide applications and produce year-round, garnering additional income and insurance against temporary interruptions of normal access to food, he says. In Cairo, elaborate rooftop gardens can reduce ambient temperatures by as much as seven degrees Celsius.
Urban farming & greener cities
A longtime advocate of engineering greener cities and a lead author of FAO’s landmark report on efforts to do so in lower-income cities, Nono Womdim estimates that more than 360 million urban residents in Africa and Latin America alone already engage in some form of urban or peri-urban horticulture. The trick is to recognize their efforts with policy frameworks that ensure they have access to necessary inputs – including some form of land tenure as well as access to water and energy. Urban gardens and shorter food supply chains also underscore how food security depends on access to nutritious food, Nono Womdim says. “Additional benefits include reducing food waste and minimizing packaging,” he adds.
Producing locally may not always be the answer, but as the COVID-19 emergency has highlighted, in times of crisis, every little bit helps in reducing food insecurity. By the same logic, rudimentary vertical farming makes a lot of sense in extreme and remote conditions. The case is even stronger for ensuring that food systems can innovatively respond to natural disasters, conflict, or the chronic stresses expected to intensify with climate change.
That is why FAO is urging policymakers to facilitate shorter supply chains as a complement that can add sustainability, inclusion, and nutritional value to the world’s remarkably efficient production systems for staple carbohydrates. In the Khyber highlands, Rehman agrees. He’s already installed an additional tunnel unit at his own expense and enjoys his transformation from someone who always had to look for extra income to support his family to someone keen to keep his children in school and who people in the region seek out for advice. “I am very motivated now,” he says.
Tags: COVID-19, FOOD CRISIS, FOOD INSECURITY, FOOD SECURITY, VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES, FOOD CHAIN, AGRICULTURE, FARMERS, CLIMATE CHANGE, CLIMATE-SMART AGRICULTURE,
How Urban Agriculture Can Contribute To Food Security
Urban agriculture has a major role to play in providing healthy, affordable and accessible food to poor urban households in South Africa, according to Prof Juaneé Cilliers, chair of the Urban and Regional Planning Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management at North-West University
October 23, 2019
Urban agriculture has a major role to play in providing healthy, affordable and accessible food to poor urban households in South Africa, according to Prof Juaneé Cilliers, chair of the Urban and Regional Planning Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management at North-West University.
Worldwide, an average of three babies are born every second. This means that the global population grows by about 162 600 people per day, roughly equivalent to the population of George (157 000) or Midrand (173 000).
At the same time, spatial change is at a peak within the urban landscape, with 65% of South Africa’s population currently residing in cities.
READ How agriculture can ease the global urban water shortage
Our growing cities are also increasingly expensive living places characterized by urban sprawl and amplified travel distances, growing carbon footprints, increased energy consumption, and complicated distribution networks.
All this leads to higher food prices and greater food wastage, neither of which are beneficial to the urban poor. Recent data from Statistics South Africa suggests that 70% of urban households in South Africa live in conditions of food insecurity.
Bringing green spaces to urban areas
The world’s growing cities host more people, but less nature. Green spaces in cities have been susceptible to urban development pressures, evident in the depletion of green spaces and the associated downward spiral of living conditions.
In the search for “inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities”, one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the interrelated role of nature as a catalyst to reach the objectives of sustainability, is emphasized.
READ Eastern Cape urban agri projects to be rejuvenated
There is a consensus that we need to reclaim nature in cities in order to mitigate the challenges associated with these growing urban sprawls while capitalizing on the range of ecosystem services provided by nature.
Cities, which were once viewed as places where nature ends and urbanization begins, are today considered as a central nexus in the relationship between people and nature.
It is within these contemporary cities that we need to find sustainable future solutions as a matter of urgency because the challenge of sustaining life as we know it is becoming more complicated by the day.
Growing cities, increasing populations and escalating poverty levels mean that we cannot continue with a business-as-usual attitude.
One of the most important conservation issues of the 21st century is where and how food is produced in order to feed a growing and fast-urbanizing population.
Traditional agricultural practices have been widely criticized for their negative environmental impact.
This includes deforestation, threats to wild species, the destruction of habitats and biodiversity, pollution of water, air and soil, high water consumption and water quality degradation, as well as greenhouse gas emission and climate change.
Growing cities place further pressures on agricultural practices. With urban sprawl comes prolonged distribution networks, complex food supply chains, more costly processing, and packaging, and ultimately, more expensive produce, greater food waste and increased food insecurity.
Despite these negatives, agriculture remains one of the most important frontiers for conservation at the moment due to the industry’s deep connections with the global economy, human societies, and biodiversity.
Our challenge lies in finding ways to best utilize space, energy, and logistics in order to sustain an increasing urban population. In short, we need to rethink our cities, but we also need to rethink traditional agricultural practices.
Smart cities: easier accessibility and greater choice
The concept of smart cities is increasingly recognized as part of the discourse on sustainable cities.
To most people, a ‘smart city’ is one that is technology-driven and futuristic, where real-time intelligence informs decision-making and anticipates and mitigates a range of societal problems. From a spatial planning perspective, a smart city implies accessibility and choice.
Accessibility refers to better-structured networks and connections between communities and their host cities, while choice refers to a range of housing and transportation options. From an agricultural perspective, accessibility and choice pertain to options to ensure food security within the contemporary city.
Agricultural technologies and smart data and analytics are set to increase food production within cities. They will also help meet the ever-growing global demand and logistical distribution of food without further disturbing the urban environment. This smart city solution is encapsulated in the notion of urban agriculture.
Grow food in places where it was previously impossible
Urban agriculture offers innovative, sustainable solutions to the improvement of food security in cities, and simultaneously assists with mitigating the environmental challenges faced by cities.
Urban agriculture can be as simple as small, outdoor community, rooftop and backyard gardens, or as complex as indoor vertical farms with nutrient-enriched water and UV lighting to mimic the effects of the sun.
READ Women in agriculture are key to boosting food security
New technologies enable food to be grown in places where it was previously difficult or impossible, making urban agriculture a viable option for cities where space is limited.
Although not all crops can be grown indoors, urban agriculture has the potential to become a dynamic economic sector that can quickly adapt to changing urban conditions and demands, diversifying the functions of the city.
Urban agriculture makes it possible to produce fresh, nutritious food with low carbon and water footprints, while conserving land, reducing emissions and waste and providing healthy, affordable, accessible food to a city’s poorest residents.
It is, therefore, not surprising that a growing number of cities worldwide have already designed policies and programs to include urban agriculture as part of city planning.
Perhaps South Africa, too, should consider the integration of urban agriculture in mainstream spatial planning, and guide cities towards the creation of demarcated zones for urban agricultural production.
When urban agriculture is formalized as a land use, it has the potential to change the entire urban and agricultural landscape, increase access to healthy food options in urban areas, and mitigate the environmental impact of feeding the world.
Although urban agriculture might not be the only solution to solving food security across the world, it is certainly part of the solution to feed the 70% of urban poor households in South Africa, adding to the development of sustainable, socially inclusive, food-secure and environmentally healthy cities.
The views expressed in our weekly opinion piece do not necessarily reflect those of Farmer’s Weekly.
Email Prof Juaneé Cilliers at juanee.cilliers@nwu.ac.za.
The World Loses $400 Billion of Food Before It Reaches Stores
Some 14% of all food produced is lost annually, with central and southern Asia, North America and Europe accounting for the biggest shares, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said in a report, citing the latest data as of 2016
October 14, 2019
About 14% of food supplies are lost each year: the United Nations
Food wastage causes unnecessary pressure on the environment: FAO
The world loses about $400 billion of food before it evengets delivered to stores, according to the United Nations.
Some 14% of all food produced is lost annually, with central and southern Asia, North America and Europe accounting for the biggest shares, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization said in a report, citing the latest data as of 2016. Better cold storage and infrastructure would help reduce losses, but more detailed data on the supply chain is needed to tackle the problem, it said.
Food wastage is drawing increased scrutiny because of the contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and as more than 820 million people are estimated to go hungry each day. World leaders have pledged to try to halve global food waste at retail and consumer levels by 2030 and reduce food production losses. Companies are also trying to improve efficiency in the food industry.
Perished Food
Share of food that's lost from post-harvest to distribution
“Losing food implies unnecessary pressure on the environment and the natural resources that have been used to produce it in the first place,” Qu Dongyu, director-general of the Rome-based FAO, said in the report. “It essentially means that land and water resources have been wasted, pollution created and greenhouse gases emitted to no purpose.”
Consumers also squander huge amounts. As much as 37% of animal products and potentially a fifth of fruit and vegetables may be wasted after being purchased, according to the FAO. Rich nations have higher levels of waste due to limited shelf life or poor consumer planning, while poorer countries typically grapple with climate and infrastructure issues.
Lost Produce
Share of produce lost from post-harvest to distribution
Reducing the world’s food losses and waste is a challenge because more information is needed in order to take effective action, the FAO said. Still, adequate cold storage, in particular, can be crucial, as well as good infrastructure and trade logistics. Boosting farm productivity through research and development has been found to be more cost-effective than curbing post-harvest losses, it said.
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Future of Food Summit
For the first time, EatingWell and the International Food Information Council Foundation are bringing together thought leaders across academia, agriculture, manufacturing, retail and the media to discuss the Future of Food and how our food system needs to change for the better
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With panel members representing GE Appliances, National Cattleman's Beef Association, North Carolina State University, Perdue, Perfect Day and more!
BUY TICKETS
PANEL TOPICS
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Joseph Clayton is Chief Executive Officer of the International Food Information Council (IFIC) and IFIC Foundation. He joined IFIC in 2016. Clayton previously served as Interim President of the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI), the trade association representing the public policy and regulatory interests of the frozen food and beverage industry. Prior to AFFI, he served as Executive Vice President at Golin International and CEO of Widmeyer Communications. He began his career in the U.S. Senate, where he worked on the legislative staff of former Illinois Senator Alan Dixon (D-IL). A graduate of the University of Illinois, Clayton serves on the Advisory Board of Illinois in Washington.
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KEYNOTE ALI BOUZARI, PH.D.
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Chris Bissig, Director Industrial Design, GE
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2:30 – 3:45 PM
Plants to Animals: Where Is Our Protein Obsession Headed?
Americans love to focus on the health benefits of protein, but we’re worried about its impact on the environment. What’s a thoughtful eater to do? Stick with meat, go lab-grown, turn to plant-based alternatives? The options are evolving by the day, especially with help from an influx of investment capital.
MODERATOR
Sophie Egan, MPH, Author & Director of Health and Sustainability Leadership, Strategic Initiatives Group, The Culinary Institute of America
PANELISTS
Ephi Eyal, CEO, Hinoman USA
Katharine Richards, Senior Director of Marketing, Perfect Day
Renske Lynde, Co-Founder & Managing Director, Food System 6
Jennie Schmidt, M.S., R.D., “The Foodie Farmer”
Sara Place, Ph.D., Senior Director of Sustainable Beef Production, National Cattleman’s Beef Association
3:45 – 5:00 PM
Innovations in Nutrition & Health
What will be the biggest influences on dietary and nutrition science in the next ten years? In 2020 the USDA will release the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which help drive food and nutrition policy. What are we likely to see there? Probably small incremental changes. But promising emergent fields including personalized nutrition, microbiome research and sugar replacement alternatives are likely to shake up what we eat to feel our best.
MODERATOR
Lisa Valente, M.S., R.D., Digital Nutrition & News Editor, EatingWell
PANELISTS
Anna Maria Siega-Riz, Ph.D., IFIC Foundation Trustee
Rachel Sanders, CEO, Rootine Vitamins
Megan Meyer, Ph.D., Director of Science Communication IFIC Foundation
Dipnath Baidyaroy, Ph.D., Director of Strategic Alliances, Codexis
Allison Kuhn, Director of Nutrition, Kroger Health
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Feeding The Masses With Indoor Farming - Agriculture Finally Grows Up
Food insecurity happens when the people it affects do not have consistent access to nutritious foods. Then, the problems span from stunted growth in childhood to obesity because people cannot get enough nutrient-rich, healthy food to maintain an ideal body weight.
June 11, 2019
Food insecurity happens when the people it affects do not have consistent access to nutritious foods. Then, the problems span from stunted growth in childhood to obesity because people cannot get enough nutrient-rich, healthy food to maintain an ideal body weight.
Credit: MetsikGarden, Pixabay
Traditional farming can help alleviate some food insecurity, but the agricultural industry is heavily dependent on Mother Nature. Unusual weather patterns, poor soil conditions and invasive pests are some of the many things that can cause farmers to have disappointing growing seasons. There’s also the reality that some areas of the world do not have the climates necessary for producing some types of food, and that problem could get worse due to global warming.
So, what if it were possible to take all those outdoor variables out of the picture? That’s happening already thanks to an increasing interest in indoor farming.
Growing Things Vertically
Indoor farming is also called greenhouse farming. Discussions surrounding either of those terms often bring up the concept of vertical farming. It involves growing crops in vertically orientated stacks. This method allows for practically utilizing the available space. Moreover, parties in the vertical farming industry typically use sensors that detect the precise amounts of light, water and other essentials that the crops need to grow.
Taking this approach avoids the waste and uncertainty that can accompany traditional farming. AeroFarms, located in New Jersey, is one of the largest indoor farms. It substitutes LED lights for the sun and uses a specialized cloth instead of soil. Plus, the operation reportedly uses up to 95% less water than standard methods of farming because it delivers a mist of water and nutrients to the root structure.
Other vertical farms operate in similar ways, and their overall methods result in shortened growing times. It’s also worth noting that although the exact statistics vary, an acre of vertical farming could produce as much as a conventional farm that’s at least ten times larger.
Population Growth Is a Pressing Matter
Researchers understand that there’s no time to waste when figuring out how to feed the world’s population. Some estimates say that as the global population grows from 7.3 billion to 9.6 billion people by 2050, we’ll need to produce 70% more food to feed them all. LED lights are particularly advantageous in indoor farms because they allow offering dynamic light spectrums for individual plants. Sunlight is comparatively unpredictable.
But, customizable light is not the only aspect of indoor farming that could make it a feasible way to feed future generations. Some indoor farms use robots to manage many of the necessities. Research shows that labor costs represent as much as 80% of an indoor farm’s operating expenses, but many are using automation to keep costs down. Doing that could help tackle the problem of aging farmers contributing to a labor shortage.
Vertical Farms Help Solve Problems With a Lack of Land
When people bring up matters related to population growth, they often talk about how the increase of people on the planet makes it more difficult for those individuals to secure housing. In the agriculture sector, the opposite problem can arise, whereby an uptick of buildings for houses and offices leaves less land for agricultural development.
Indoor farms address that problem since they can exist inside of or on buildings — such as in one case where a former warehouse in Brooklyn now has a rooftop garden. Then, in the Sunqiao district of Shanghai, vertical greenhouses are integrated parts of the city, showing that farms can thrive without vast expanses of land.
Dealing With the Sustainability Challenge
Vertical farms offer higher yields than outdoor farms, and they’re compatible with urban environments. Many companies also sell compact indoor growing solutions for households, and those product manufacturers took inspiration from the large-scale indoor farms. All of those things are good news for fixing food insecurity.
But, critics point out that some indoor farms are not always sustainable options due to the energy required for things like climate control. That’s a valid argument, but people need to realize that no single solution will completely encompass the issue related to both food insecurity and sustainability.
As mentioned earlier, indoor farms use less water than traditional farms. Plus, they typically don’t require pesticides, which is another advantage for the planet. If enough indoor farms meet food availability needs, it’s also possible that produce would not need to travel as far to reach the people who eat it. That’s a sustainable outcome, too.
The possible downsides of indoor farms should merely be reminders of how solving the problem of feeding the future should take sustainability into account. Then, the results could mean that more people have access to the food they need, and the planet gets the necessary protection.
Centers For Disease Control And Prevention Report
Restaurants were linked to outbreaks more often than any other place where food was prepared, as in previous reports
US: New Numbers On Foodborne
Illness Outbreaks
In 2016, 839 foodborne disease outbreaks were reported to CDC, according to a recently released annual summary from the National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS). The data come from reports that state, local, and territorial public health agencies submitted to the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System using NORS, and includes single-state and multistate outbreaks.
According to qualityassurancemag.com, the CDC estimates that each year in the United States, about 9.4 million people get ill from 31 known foodborne germs. These illnesses lead to about 56,000 hospitalizations and 1,350 deaths. Although most foodborne illnesses are not part of a recognized outbreak, outbreaks provide important information on the agents (germs, toxins, and chemicals) that cause illness, the foods responsible, and the settings that lead to transmission.
The main findings from the annual summary include:
Reported foodborne disease outbreaks resulted in 14,259 illnesses, 875 hospitalizations, 17 deaths, and recalls of 18 food products.
Norovirus was the most frequently reported cause, with 145 outbreaks and 3,794 outbreak-associated illnesses.
Salmonella was the second most common cause, with 132 outbreaks and 3,047 outbreak-associated illnesses.
Restaurants were linked to outbreaks more often than any other place where food was prepared, as in previous reports. Restaurants were associated with 459 outbreaks, accounting for 61% of outbreaks that reported a single location where food was prepared. Most of these restaurant outbreaks (363) were reported at establishments offering sit-down dining.
Click Here to Read The Full Report.
Publication date : 10/16/2018
US: FDA Investigates More Cyclospora Outbreaks
Although Cyclospora outbreaks in the US happen less frequently than those caused by typical pathogens like E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria, the recent salad mix outbreaks occurring in July and August of this year are sadly familiar. Food Engineering already reported on similar events in a news item entitled “Cyclospora outbreak traced to pre-packaged salad mix.” Now, Cyclospora certainly has the FDA’s attention.
Recently, some 630 people from 25 American states were infected, according to the CDC. Officials in Nebraska said the salad mix contained iceberg and romaine lettuce, red cabbage and carrots, and was sold via a national distribution chain. By the time the final tallies were made, the offending salad mixes were out of the supply chain.
An August 23, 2018, FDA update showed that this summer’s Cyclospora infection afflicted people who consumed salads from McDonald’s restaurants. Though the investigation is still ongoing, cases were reported in 15 states and New York City, resulting in 507 illnesses and 24 hospitalizations. Infections were reported in July and August 2018. The FDA has been reviewing distribution and supplier information for romaine and carrots.
But McDonald’s salads weren’t the only product affected. On July 30, 2018, the USDA issued a public health alert on beef, pork and poultry salad wrap products potentially contaminated with Cyclospora that were distributed by Caito Foods LLC, Indianapolis. Caito Foods had received notification from Fresh Express that the chopped romaine in these products was being recalled.
Publication date : 10/16/2018
Vertical Farming And 'Soft Power'
By Edward Timperlake - - Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Whatever one’s religious belief, all can acknowledge that World War II was the closest humanity has come to unleashing what is symbolically known as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: war, famine, pestilence and death.
However, that Hobbesian view of humanity can be offset by walking along a unique “trail” in D.C., called “The Peace Trail,” on our National Mall. https://www.usip.org/peace-trail-national-mall
One of the central points of note on the Peace Trail are four bronze statues. Two are known as “The Arts of War” and flank the entrance leading from the Lincoln Memorial to Memorial Bridge, crossing over the Potomac River to Arlington Cemetery. The second two statues, “The Arts of Peace,” flank the road that runs parallel to the Potomac River.
The Arts of War have one word on each statue: “Valor” on one, “Sacrifice” on the other — appropriately so, given that the Memorial Bridge leads to Arlington Cemetery.
The Arts of Peace have carved in their stone bases “Aspiration and Literature” on one and “Music and Harvest” on the other.
No better connection of words embodies the power of human nature’s resiliency with pure joy as when these words, “Music and Harvest,” are joined together.
Those words take on additional importance when one reads that the stone castings were done in Naples, Italy, and they are a gift from the Italian people to the American people in 1950, just four years after the horrors of World War II.
From Roman engineers building roads and aqueducts to help harvests to the great “Green Revolution” beginning in the 1950s and continuing to this day, some of the best minds in the world have sought to meet the challenge of feeding humanity.
One key leader was Norman Borlaug, an American agronomist who is often called the father of the Green Revolution and who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for increasing food production. His efforts to develop — and deliver — high-yielding varieties of cereal grains to India and Pakistan are credited with saving as many as a billion people from starvation. Additional elements of the revolution were helping farmers improve their irrigation techniques and get access to man-made fertilizers and pesticides.
Imagine, one brilliant man saving a billion lives! Thus, all people can appreciate that the advances in agriculture are a genuine “soft power” contribution to world peace: Impoverished nations will not have to fight for basic survival if they can simply feed their citizens.
From the great land-grant institutions to scientific research labs and schools such as Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Science, research pioneers have played an important dynamic role in advancing knowledge in growing nutritious food.
Now, agriculture in the 21st century is entering the practical and achievable dimension of vertical farming. This phrase — describing growing plants in multistory buildings rather than on a horizontal farm — was actually coined in 1915. But thanks to renewed efforts in development, it is now possible to move from the scientific linear approach of advancing yields from a horizontal farmer’s field to going vertical. This is a true step-function into creating a “fourth Agriculture Revolution.”
There is tremendous promise when the best innovations of the Green Revolution are integrated into vertical farming, especially in urban and suburban settings.
Food insecurity is a concern for anyone living in a city. Poor quality, limited options and a fragile supply line are only some of the challenges in feeding people.
Looking at agriculture more broadly, many practices that have been used for decades — and even thousands of years — are breaking down and are ultimately unsustainable. Fertilizers produce chemical runoff that is polluting the water supply. This, in turn, has led to a number of aquatic “dead zones.” Huge amounts of water and land are needed to keep pace with the population.
Vertical farming can address these concerns in ways that greenhouses and regular urban farming can’t.
Picture several high-tech greenhouses stacked on top of each other. Now add in hydroponics, a fairly familiar growing technique that uses a third the amount of water required by regular agriculture.
Now think about a vertical farm using aeroponics, a technique that needs only a third the water of hydroponics and recycles the water so it can be used over and over.
Moreover, unlike some vertical farms, a new approach is to design the building to fully maximize sunlight to grow plants, with OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes) as a supplement. OLED is like a protein bar for plants whereas sunlight is like dinner with all the fixings.
With greater use of vertical farming, some of the farmlands that are currently used in agriculture could be returned to a more natural state of better soil through carbon sequestration.
This, plus reduced water needs; multiple annual harvests; recycled waste; crops protected from disease and the elements; and real 21st century jobs, are just some of the benefits that can be brought by vertical farming.
• U.S. Marine Fighter Pilot Edward Timperlake, who owns a farm in Rappahannock County, Virginia, served in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and is a former assistant secretary with the Department of Veterans Affairs and former director of technology assessment in the Department of Defense. He has co-authored four books, including “Rebuilding American Military Power in the Pacific: A 21st-Century Showdown” (Praeger, 2013), and currently writes for Defense.info.
World Food Day 2018 - Our Actions Are Our Future - A #ZeroHunger World By 2030 Is Possible
October 16 is World Food Day, a yearly initiative created by the United Nations to promote awareness and action for those who suffer from hunger and for the need to ensure food security, healthy, safe and nutritious diets for all. Across the world, many initiatives are organized over 130 countries, making World Food Day one of the most celebrated days within the United Nations calendar.
This year's main theme is focusing on the Sustainable Development Goal No. 2: Zero Hunger. It is not just linked to eradicate hunger, but also aims at improving nutrition and sustainable agriculture. In fact, after a period of declining in the global data, hunger is once again on the rise. According to the FAO's report "The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018", over 820 million people worldwide are suffering from hunger and other forms of malnutrition.
What can be done? Policy-makers, media, governments, civil society and International institutions can take the lead to reach SDG2 of the UN 2030 Agenda.
The solution can be transforming radically the way we look at the food we produce and consume, changing our nutritional habits that have created a a sustainable and healthy diets, such as Mediterranean Diet. Recent data show the alarming trends, particularly among young generations: in Italy 36% of children and adolescents between 5 and 19 years old is overweight, a percentage that exceeds 58% in adults.
Overweight and obesity, unhealthy diets and poor physical activity, contribute to the proliferation of non-communicable diseases (especially diabetes, some forms of cancer and cardiovascular problems) that put quality of life at risk and in some cases lead to premature mortality.
According to the preview of the data based on the third edition of the Food Sustainability Index (which will be released on 28 and 29 November at the International Forum on Food and Nutrition, organized by BCFN in Milan), Italy is trying to limit the progressive "nutritional transition", putting in place some concrete measures in school canteens that focus on portions, quality of ingredients and nutritional standards of meals.
"Never before has there been such a need for a food revolution that can make food the focus of our way of thinking. .Thanks to our partnership with the MIUR, we created the Digital Education initiative “Noi, il Cibo, il nostro Pianeta”, which aims to educate new global citizens by way of an innovative digital program centered round the role of food and the effects that its production and consumption have on the environment, health, society and even the phenomenon of migration. We will be discussing this issue at the International Forum on Food and Nutrition to be held at Hangar Bicocca" explained Anna Ruggerini, Operations Director of the BCFN Foundation.
An educational program for tomorrow's adults
The BCFN Foundation is committed to building a new food and environmental sustainability, paying particular attention to education and the active role of young generations. This means opening a dialogue with children and young people, contributing to food education which pays closer attention to health and the environmental impact of eating habits. Within this view, teachers play a critical role, and the BCFN Foundation supports their work with the 'We, food, our Planet" program.
Part of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry for Education, 'We, our food, our planet' is an educational project designed to provide incentives for innovative ways of teaching. It offers online training for teacher on the themes of food and food sustainability and digital tools for class work. The project, which also comes with practical lab activities for more dynamic learning, and is designed for three different age groups to better prepare tomorrow's global citizens.
The interactive program, available on the website www.noiilciboilpianeta.it, is divided into four modules and is based on one assumption: food is the element that connects all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established by the United Nations.
Food-Insecure Schools Are The Next Major Frontier For Indoor Farming
September 17, 2018
Tech startups and pundits alike are considering the many places (anywhere, really) in which indoor agriculture can become a reality. But an organization in the Bronx, NYC provides the most obvious clue as to where this type of farming can make its biggest impact.
Teens for Food Justice (TFFJ) is a nonprofit dedicated to training youths on hydroponic farming techniques, health and nutrition education, and entrepreneurship skills. In real life, that translates to working with schools in NYC to build and maintain indoor hydroponic farms that provide fresh produce to school cafeterias on a daily basis.
By TFFJ’s estimates, their farms yield around 22,000 pounds of fresh produce annually at each location, including bok choy, herbs and lettuces, hot peppers, and cucumbers. At some locations, the yield is even greater. Thanks to a donation from Green Mountain Energy Sun Club, DeWitt Clinton high school produces over 25,000 pounds of produce per year. The 1,300 square-foot indoor farm lives in a former chemistry lab in the high school, and feeds not only the students but also the surrounding area — which happens to be one of the most food-insecure communities in NYC.
TFFJ grew out of Students for Service, a nonprofit created in 2009 to involve at-risk-area teens in community service projects. A focus on food justice and sustainability developed a few years later, in 2013, when the first TFFJ model raised over $90,000 to build its first hydroponic farm in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. A second farm launched in 2016, and TFFJ now operates in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn at Title 1 schools. These schools typically serve low-income areas, many of which are also food-insecure zones.
Roughly 42 million Americans, including 13 million children, are considered food insecure. Lucy Melcher, director of advocacy and government relations for Share Our Strength, last year described food insecurity as “a family that has enough money to buy groceries three out of four weeks; it’s a mom skipping dinner; it’s having to choose between buying groceries and paying rent.”
It’s also a vicious cycle. As anyone who’s ever skipped a meal knows, hunger throws both brain and body out of whack and can severely impact things like the ability to concentrate and even make sound decisions. In a school setting, that usually means lower academic performance, higher dropout rates, and lower-paying jobs as an adult — all of which can perpetuate the food insecurity cycle for any given individual.
TFFJ’s mission has the potential to halt that chain of events early on: in the classroom. You might say the organization is trying to build a new cycle, one that focuses heavily on getting hands-on with the food-growing process, education oneself, then taking those lessons to others in the communities:
It’s obviously quite a bit more complicated than an infographic can show, but getting indoor agriculture into more schools is definitely becoming a legitimate movement. Consider “Growing Brooklyn’s Future,” a $2 million initiative to create hydroponic classrooms in a dozen schools across Brooklyn neighborhoods Brownsville, Bushwick and East New York. Or Princeton University’s Vertical Farming Project, which this past May announced a partnership with Hopewell Elementary school in Hopewell, NJ, to develop a vertical farm-to-cafeteria program.
Right now, however, most of these programs rely on donations and grants, and literal and figurative growth will depend on much more funding in future. This is where indoor agriculture companies could really step in. There are plenty of high-tech farming startups out there, all hoping to play a role in the $27 billion indoor agriculture market. But as I wrote last week, these companies have an opportunity to expand their reach from the farmer’s market and the upscale grocery store to areas in greater need of both fresh food and better nutritional education.
One other advantage of schools: if indoor agriculture is going to be the force many hope it becomes, the world will need more people who actually know how to grow the food using hydroponics and other indoor farming techniques. Bringing these programs into schools is effectively training an entire generation on skills that will soon be critical for us all.
The Innovation Turning Desert Sand Into Farmland
By Aamir Rafiq Peerzada
BBC News, Al Ain
- 16 May 2018
Faisal Al Shimmari hopes the innovation will help him create "a human Garden of Eden" in the desert
Faisal Mohammed Al Shimmari farms in some of the most extreme conditions in the world, at Al Ain, an oasis in the United Arab Emirates desert, where temperatures can reach 50C.
"It's expensive as we have to buy water regularly to irrigate these plants," he says.
Farmers have to use tankers to bring in water, and in the desert, farms use almost three times as much water as those in temperate climates. This makes farming in the desert impractical so the UAE imports about 80% of its food.
Yet for many, this might be the future of farming. Increased drought, deforestation, and intensive farming methods are turning an area half the size of Britain into desert each year.
According to the United Nations, by 2030, 135 million people could lose their homes and livelihoods to desertification.
That raises the challenge of how to grow food in increasingly hostile conditions, but one scientist has come up with an innovation that could turn those deserts green again.
Liquid clay
Norwegian scientist Kristian Morten Olesen has patented a process to mix nano-particles of clay with water and bind them to sand particles to condition desert soil - he has been working on Liquid Nanoclay (LNC) since 2005.
Liquid Nanoclay halved the amount of water used to grow these okra plants in desert soil
"The treatment gives sand particles a clay coating which completely changes their physical properties and allows them to bind with water," he says.
"This process doesn't involve any chemical agents. We can change any poor-quality sandy soils into high-yield agricultural land in just seven hours."
Kristian's son Ole Morten Olesen, who is also the chief operating officer of the company they founded, Desert Control, says: "We just mix natural clay in water that is inserted into the sand which creates half a metre layer into the soil that turns the sand into good fertile soil."
Normal sand particles are very loose, which means that they have a very low water retention capacity.
But when you add Liquid Nanoclay to the sand it binds those sand particles together, says Kristian, which means it can hold water for longer, "increasing the possibility of agricultural yield".
UAE trial
Back in the UAE, Faisal agreed to host a trial of Liquid Nanoclay last December, and two areas were planted with a selection of crops: tomatoes, aubergines and okra.
One was treated with LNC while a second control area was left untreated.
Kristian Morten Olesen says liquid clay "could be a game changer" for farming in arid conditions
"I am amazed to see the success of LNC," says Faisal. "It just saved consumption of water by more than 50%, it means now I can double the green cover with the same water."
He says that the untreated area used almost 137 cubic metres of water for irrigation and the one treated with LNC used just 81 cubic metres.
"I can double the farming area using the same amount of water I was using before," says Faisal.
The cost of treatment per hectare (2.4 acres) of desert varies from $1,800-$9,500 (£1,300-£6,900) depending upon the size of the project - which currently makes it too expensive for most farmers.
The soil requires a 15%-20% retreatment after four or five years if the land is tilled and if untilled then the treatment lasts for longer.
Desert Control says initially it will target municipal governments and commercial growers but eventually would like to make the cost accessible to all growers.
"This is a great game changer" for farmers in arid areas, says Kristian.
Part of our series Taking the Temperature , which focuses on the battle against climate change and the people and ideas making a difference.
This BBC series was produced with funding from the Skoll Foundation
French Homeless Shelter Plans To Build Rooftop Greenhouse
An urban farm could be installed on the roof of a French shelter, in order to develop agriculture in the city and to supply the social restaurant of the shelter in particular. It’s located on the Island of Nantes. The association Les Eaux Vives will open this project in 2019, which will be called "5 Ponts (5 Bridges)".
Homeless people will be offered hour-based work contracts. Missions will be proposed within the urban farm, the Emmaus boutique, the restaurant, or the green spaces of the site.
Next, to the restaurant, Les Eaux Vives now offers a day stop and a night stop, and an emergency shelter on three different addresses in Nantes.
The 5 Bridges project is organized around a covered street to facilitate the meeting of different audiences. The project is supported by the City of Nantes, and the European Union as part of the UIA (urban innovative action) project.
Publication date: 8/14/2018
How The Lack of Affordable Vegetables is Creating a Billion-Dollar Obesity Epidemic in South Africa
Fruit and vegetable prices in South Africa have increased to the point that poorer people have had to remove them from their grocery lists. Credit: Nalisha Adams/IPS
JOHANNESBURG, August 10, 2018 (IPS) - Every Sunday afternoon, Thembi Majola* cooks a meal of chicken and rice for her mother and herself in their home in Alexandra, an informal settlement adjacent to South Africa’s wealthy economic hub, Sandton.
“Vegetables is only on Sunday,” Majola tells IPS, adding that these constitute potatoes, sweet potato, and pumpkin. Majola, who says she weighs 141 kgs, has trouble walking short distances as it generally leaves her out of breath. And she has been on medication for high blood pressure for almost two decades now.
“It is precisely a justice issue because at the very least our economy should be able to provide access to sufficient and nutritious food. Because, at the basis of our whole humanity, at the very basis of our body, is our nutrition." -- Mervyn Abrahams, Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice, and Dignity Group
“Maize is the first priority,” she says of the staple item that always goes into her shopping basket. “Every Saturday I eat boerewors [South African sausage]. And on Sunday it is chicken and rice. During the week, I eat mincemeat once and then most of the time I fill up my stomach with [instant] cup a soup,” she says of her diet.
Majola is one of about 68 percent of South African women who are overweight or obese, according to the South African Demographic and Health Survey. The Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition’s Food Sustainability Index (FSI) 2017 ranks 34 countries across three pillars: sustainable agriculture; nutritional challenges; and food loss and waste. South Africa ranks in the third quartile of the index in 19th place. However, the country has a score of 51 on its ability to address nutritional challenges. The higher the score, the greater the progress the country has made. South Africa’s score is lower than a number of countries on the index.
Families go into debt to pay for basic foods
Many South Africans are eating a similar diet to Majola’s not out of choice, but because of affordability.
Dr. Kirthee Pillay, lecturer of dietetics and human nutrition at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, tells IPS that the increase of carbohydrate-based foods as a staple in most people’s diets is cost-related.
“Fruit and vegetable prices have increased to the point that poorer people have had to remove them from their grocery lists.”
The Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action (Pacsa), a social justice non-governmental organization, noted last October in its annual food barometer report that while the median wage for black South Africans is USD209 a month, a monthly food basket that is nutritionally complete costs USD297.
The report also noted that food expenditure from households arise out of the monies left over after non-negotiable expenses, such as transport, electricity, debt and education needs have been paid first. And this resulted in many families incurring debt in order to meet their food bills.
“Staples are cheaper and more filling and people depend on these, especially when there is less money available for food and many people to feed. Fruit and vegetables are becoming luxury food items for many people given the increasing cost of food. Thus, the high dependence on cheaper, filling staples. However, an excessive intake of carbohydrate-rich foods can increase risk for obesity,” Pillay tells IPS via email.
Majola works at a national supermarket chain, with her only dependent being her elderly mother. She says her grocery bill comes to about USD190 each month, higher than what most average families can afford, but agrees that the current cost of fruit and vegetables are a luxury item for her.
“They are a bit expensive now. Maybe they can sell them at a lesser price,” she says, adding that if she could afford it, she would have vegetables everyday. “Everything comes from the pocket.”
Monopoly of Food Chain Creating a System that Makes People Ill
David Sanders, emeritus professor at the school of public health at the University of the Western Cape, says that South Africans have a very high burden of ill health, much of which is related to their diet.
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But he adds that large corporates dominate every node of the food chain in the country, starting from inputs and production, all the way to processing, manufacturing and retail. “So it is monopolised all the way up the food system from the farm to the fork.”
“The food system is creating, for poor people anyway, a quite unhealthy food environment. So for well-off people there is sufficient choice and people can afford a nutritionally-adequate diet, even one of quite high quality.
“But poor people can’t. In most cases, the great majority, don’t have a kind of subsistence farming to fall back on because of land policies and the fact that in the 24 years of democracy there hasn’t been significant development of small scale farming,” Sanders, who is one of the authors of a report on food systems in Brazil, South Africa and Mexico, tells IPS.
According to the report, about 35,000 medium and large commercial farmers produce most of South Africa’s food.
In addition, Sanders points out that a vast majority of rural South Africans purchase, rather than grow, their own food.
“The food they can afford tends to be largely what we call ultra processed or processed food. That often provides sufficient calories but not enough nutrients. It tends to be quite low often in good-quality proteins and low in vitamins and minerals – what we call hyper nutrients.
“So the latter situation results in quite a lot of people becoming overweight and obese. And yet they are poorly nourished,” Sanders explains.
The Sugar Tax Not Enough to Stem Epidemic of Obesity
In April, South Africa introduced the Sugary Beverages Levy, which charges manufacturers 2.1 cents per gram of sugar content that exceeds 4g per 100 ml. The levy is part of the country’s department of health’s efforts to reduce obesity.
Pillay says while it is still too early to tell if the tax will be effective, in her opinion “customers will fork out the extra money being charged for sugar-sweetened beverages. Only the very poor may decide to stop buying them because of cost.”
Sander’s points out “it’s not just the level of obesity, it is the rate at which this has developed that is so alarming.”
A study shows that the number of young South Africans suffering from obesity doubled in the last six years, while it had taken the United States 13 years for this to happen.
“Here is an epidemic of nutrition, diet-related diseases, which has unfolded extremely rapidly and is just as big and as threatening and expensive as the HIV epidemic, and yet it is going largely unnoticed.”
Overweight people have a risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and hypertension, which places them at risk for heart disease. One of South Africa’s largest medical aid schemes estimated in a report that the economic impact on the country was USD50 billion rands a year.
“Even if people knew what they should eat there is very very little room for maneuver. There is some, but not much,” Sanders says adding that people should rather opt to drink water rather than purchase sugary beverages.
“Education and awareness is a factor but I would say that these big economic drivers are much more important.”
Sanders says that questions need to be asked about how the control of the country’s food system and food chain can “be shifted towards smaller and more diverse production and manufacture and distributions.”
“Those are really the big questions. It would require very targeted and strong policies on the part of government. That would be everything from preferentially financing small operators [producers, manufacturers and retailers]…at every level there would have to be incentives, not just financial, but training and support also,” he says.
Pillay agrees that the increase in food prices “needs to be addressed as it directly influences what people are able to buy and eat. … Sustainable agriculture should assist in reducing the prices of locally-grown fruit and vegetables and to make them more available to South African consumers.”
Mervyn Abrahams, one of the authors of the Pacsa report, now a programme coordinator at the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group, tells IPS that the organisation is campaigning for a living wage that should be able to provide households with a basic and sufficient nutrition in their food basket. The matter, he says, is one of economic justice.
“It is precisely a justice issue because at the very least our economy should be able to provide access to sufficient and nutritious food. Because, at the basis of our whole humanity, at the very basis of our body, is our nutrition. And so it is the most basic level by which we believe that the economy should be judged, to see whether there is equity and justice in our economic arena.”
*Not her real name.
Chipotle Facing 2 Lawsuits After Hundreds of Diners Reported Getting Sick
Health Officials Are Currently Investigating The Cause of The Food Poisoning Scare
by Lyn Mettler / Aug.08.2018 / 5:09 PM ET / Source: TODAY
Bloomberg via Getty Images
After a spate of foodborne illnesses in 2015 affected restaurants across the country, Chipotle Mexican Grill vowed to clean up its act by implementing new food handling processes in both its restaurants and at the supplier level.
But in the past few weeks, Chipotle has been hit with another food poisoning scare — and it may be the largest the company has ever faced. More than 600 people who ate at a Chipotle restaurant outside Columbus, Ohio, at the end of July have since reported gastrointestinal symptoms.
According to the Delaware General Health District in Delaware, Ohio, to date 624 people claimed that they have experienced nausea, vomiting and diarrhea after dining at a restaurant in Powell, Ohio, between July 26 and 30.
While the store closed immediately following the reports “to implement ... food safety response protocols that included total replacement of all food inventory and a complete cleaning and sanitation of the restaurant,” a Chipotle spokesperson told TODAY Food, the location at on Sawmill Parkway has since reopened.
The Health District says preliminary testing results have been negative for salmonella, E.coli, norovirus, and shigella, but tests are ongoing and, after the initial inspection, found no reason that the facility should not reopen.
AUG. 6, 2018 CHIPOTLE UPDATE
“The health of our guests and employees is our top priority,” the Chipotle spokesperson told TODAY Food.
But Chipotle already faced some backlash recently after their much-hyped promotion for free guacamole on National Avocado Day went awry.
While the latest outbreak has only been linked to one location, the fast-casual Mexican restaurant chain being sued over the incident. According to a press release for the law firm filing the suit on behalf of two individuals, this is the seventh time in two years the company has faced a food contamination crisis.
AP
“Through this lawsuit and with the dozens of claims we are investigating, we will determine where and how Chipotle once again failed to protect its customers,” Mark A. DiCello, a partner at DiCello Levitt & Casey, one of the firms filing the suit, stated in the press release. “This has become far too routine at Chipotle, and ultimately we want to make sure that the company doesn’t let this happen again.”
In the complaint, one plaintiff, Filip Szyller, says he bought three chicken tacos at the restaurant and the next day began to experience diarrhea, severe abdominal pain, nausea, headaches, as well as hot and cold flashes. In a separate lawsuit, another plaintiff, Clayton Jones, is claiming that he ate a burrito bowl with chicken, fajita vegetables, pico de gallo, rice, sour cream and lettuce and experienced similar medical issues.
The response to the latest health scare has been mixed on social media with many saying they aren't phased by the incident.
There’s another food borne illness outbreak from Chipotle? I’ll gladly take my chances
@ChipotleTweets it doesn’t matter how many articles my boyfriend sends me about the food poising outbreak it won’t stop me from devouring a burrito #chipotle #thatswhatinsuranceisfor
Every time @ChipotleTweets ends up in the news with a food poisoning outbreak all it does is make me crave Chipotle. sooooo I think they're fine
Others, however, are saying it's time for the chain to admit defeat or vowing never to eat at the restaurant again.
Aquarian Goddess@ReneeBr56236293
Chipotle just needs to close up and call it a done deal
Man it seems like eating at chipotle's is like Russian roulette! Constantly seeing illness from food issues. Had incident myself. C'mon guys get your act together.
- Aaron Allen, CEO of the global restaurant consulting firm Aaron Allen & Associates, told TODAY Food that the company still has life despite these repeated incidents, though it’s not doing itself any favors. “You want to bet on this boxer, but he just keeps punching himself in the face," he said.
He explained that Chipotle has installed a new executive leadership team this year, which he said likely hasn’t had time to get the company reorganized. Despite the setbacks, however, Allen said investors are becoming desensitized to the food poisoning scares, and understand that Chipotle is more prone to these issues with the number of stores nationwide and the amount of fresh food they handle daily. Allen even sees its potential international growth soon.
However, Allen added that Chipotle isn't totally immune to blowback and that these scenarios can’t continue forever. “If these [food scares] keep happening, it’s going to be increasingly difficult to recover from it,” he said.
How Will Humanity Feed Itself By 2050?
The food industry today faces a daunting task: feeding 10 billion mouths in a fair and sustainable way by 2050. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, food supply must more than double in 30 years to provide for the entire world.
With almost 10 billion people predicted to be living on earth in 30 years’ time, the food system is working hard to feed a growing world.
Here’s how it’s working to do that.
By Zafirah Zein
30 July 2018
The food industry today faces a daunting task: feeding 10 billion mouths in a fair and sustainable way by 2050. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, food supply must more than double in 30 years to provide for the entire world.
One in nine people around the world suffer from hunger today and in Southeast Asia alone, four countries—Myanmar, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam—have the highest levels of malnutrition globally.
But with megatrends such as climate change and rapid urbanization making their impact felt on the food system, it will only become more difficult to ensure affordable, nutritious food for the world.
Changes in weather patterns due to climate change and land degradation, for instance, could lead to drastic declines in agricultural yield to the point it would require an additional 75 million hectares of farmland to make up for the shortfall, according to a recent report by Singapore investment firm Temasek titled Feeding Urban Asia.
Rural-urban migration and rising income levels will mean fewer farmers to till the land, and less space for growing crops as arable land gives way to urban development. Urbanisation has also been linked to increased rates of meat consumption and higher calorie intake per person, increasing the need for the world to produce more calories to keep up.
The search for solutions is urgent. Yannick Foing, global lead, partner engagement in nutrition improvement at DSM Nutritional Products, tells Eco-Business: “We need to work with the public sector, non-government organizations, and consumers, to make sure we are all aligned to the same goal.”
“Can we look into more sustainable sourcing? Can we promote locally grown diversified diets? How can we look at all the sustainable options so that we can have an impact on food security?”
Growing farms in cities
The solution seems simple—if the world’s farmers could intensify farming and become more productive, less land and fewer farmers could meet the production needs for the future. Introducing high-yield crop varieties, increasing the use of fertilizers and improving irrigation of available farmland are methods that have been cited in recent years to help boost agricultural production, especially in developing countries.
But a new study released earlier this year showed that ramping up crop production with the help of pesticides and fertilizers will come at a high cost to smallholder farmers and the environment. While it would increase yields in the short-term, it could also degrade the soil and compromise productivity in the long run, said, authors. Food quality could also be compromised by the extensive use of low-grade fertilizers, which farmers around the world are using to meet high production targets.
“The food system hasn’t really changed much in the last 20 years,” says Gerard Chia, head of business development at VisVires New Protein, a capital venture fund that invests in disruptive technologies for the global food and feed systems. “We’ve always seen an intensification of food production which saw an emphasis on quantity instead of quality.”
How can we look at all the sustainable options so that we can have an impact on food security?
Yannick Foing, global lead, partner engagement in nutrition improvement, DSM Nutritional Products
One new, innovative way of providing food to urban populations that have gained popularity around the world is urban farming, which turns spaces in cities into high-yielding farms.
A rendering of the Floating Ponds vertical fish farm conceptualized by Surbana Jurong and Apollo Aquaculture Group. Their model of urban aquaculture has reported yields six times higher than traditional farming, using the same land area. Image: Surbana Jurong
In Singapore, Apollo Aquaculture Group started a “high-rise” seafood farming project, which produces a yield six times higher than traditional aquaculture farms. Vertical farms—which stack layers of produce on top of one another and combines advanced farming techniques like aeroponics and hydroponics—are becoming more commonplace, from just one in 2012 to seven in 2016. In Japan, urban farmers make up a quarter of farming households, generating one-third of the nation’s agriculture output.
Urban farming as a solution addresses the issue of food security, as well as the major problem of food waste by being close to the end consumer.
“We lose large amounts of food produced on the way to urban centers,” says associate professor Ralph Graichen, who heads the Food and Nutrition, Biomedical Research Council at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore.
In South and Southeast Asia, around 59 percent of food is lost before making it to the dining table due to lack of services and infrastructure, and globally, food lost due to inefficiencies along the supply chain amounts to 65 percent of global food wastage.
Says Graichen: “The further away food is produced, the more we need to invest in preservation and supply chain management.”
The sheer amount of food loss and waste is inspiring new solutions in Asia.
Scientists at A*Star in Singapore have unveiled a new packaging material that extends the shelf life of food by at least 50 percent. A longer shelf life not only helps customers cut food waste at home by making produce last longer; it also limits spoilage during transportation.
Japan is trying to address the issue using data technology by developing an artificial intelligence system that predicts food demand based on weather information and sales data. This aids companies in reducing unnecessary production and eliminating food inventory losses.
By reducing the amount of food waste that leaves the food system, the world could save up to about 1 trillion dollars and make greater strides in strengthening food security.
Working together for the future of food
Ensuring that the next generation is well-fed goes beyond producing enough food. In order to support healthy, thriving populations, feeding the world into the future also requires meeting their nutritional needs.
Various stakeholders in and outside the food and agriculture industry are collaborating to create food products that are both nutritious and affordable for lower-income consumers in Asia-Pacific. For example, DSM in China and India developed fortified rice that looks and tastes similar to normal rice .
Heightened atmospheric CO2 levels might be adversely affecting the nutritional quality of the food we eat, according to a major report by the US Global Change Research Program. Image: Shutterstock
But Foing from DSM recognizes that companies are limited in what they can achieve on their own. “We cannot do it alone— as an industry we have innovative products but we need to partner with others so that we can channel these products to consumers who need it the most,” says Foing.
He added that partnerships between different stakeholders such as business and government, consumers and NGOs, should define the new era of food, considering the drastic changes needed to ensure the industry is up to the challenge of feeding 10 billion mouths. It was this focus on partnerships that led DSM to organize the Sustainable Evidence-based Actions for Change in Singapore, gathering industry professionals, government representatives, academia and civil society to discuss how to provide affordable, accessible and nutritious food to low and middle-income consumers in the region.
“Nutrient dense food [for the masses] is possible if we communicate and educate properly to make it acceptable to consumers. This will help to provide high-nutrient food in the future, even if overall food supply falls,” says Professor Graichen. “We also have to be more open to technology. If we can food produce in an urban environment in the future, supply can be met.
What Is The Impact Of Our Ecological Footprint?
Yesterday, August 1st, was Overshoot Day, the date when mankind's demand for natural resources exceeds the amount of resources that Earth is able to generate in the same year.
Earth Overshoot Day was established in 2006 to make people all over the world more aware of the continual erosion of natural resources. Every year, on a precise date calculated with the aid of a specific index, the point is reached when mankind has consumed all the resources Earth is able to generate that year. Everything consumed after that date is a debt to the environment, which we urgently need to start repaying.
Unfortunately, this date seems to come earlier in the calendar every year (in 1997 it was at the end of September, while last year the date was 2 August). This means that
"every year, these resources are running out at a faster and faster rate.
“To keep our economies running today, we are borrowing resources that will be needed tomorrow. This vicious cycle cannot go on much longer: if we continue this trend, in little more than fifty years we may already have consumed everything available to us" by the start of the year. And what are the consequences for all our lives?", commented Marta Antonelli, Head of the Research Program at BCFN Foundation. Estimates indicate that this year, to satisfy the current demand for natural resources, we are using the equivalent of 1.7 Earths.
But how do we consume these resources? 60% corresponds to the "demand from nature" for the absorption of carbon dioxide emissions. Each one of us could do something to improve the situation even by just changing our approach to food, since the way we produce it accounts for over 30% of our greenhouse gas emissions (more than heating, which generates 23.6% and transport, which is "only” responsible for 18.5% of the greenhouse gases produced worldwide).
To trigger change, the Global Footprint Network suggests solutions for moving the date towards the end of the year (#movethedate) by providing measurement methods, concrete commitments, and a new Ecological Footprint calculator.
And you? What are you doing to move the date towards sustainability?
Chipotle Reopens Ohio Restaurant Following Customer Illnesses
Traci Whittaker, a spokeswoman for the health department in Delaware County, said they had received more than 100 calls related to the investigation.
By Craig Giammona and Shelly Hagan
July 31, 2018
Mexican chain had closed site ‘out of an abundance of caution’
Local health officials say probe into cause continuing
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. reopened a restaurant in Ohio on Tuesday that was temporarily closed after customers reported getting sick.
The restaurant, located in the city of Powell, was voluntarily closed for cleaning on Monday after local health officials and the company received reports of employees and customers complaining of nausea, diarrhea and cramping. The news sent Chipotle’s shares down as much as 8.5 percent Tuesday as investors grappled with another round of negative headlines tied to the Mexican chain.
A spokeswoman for Chipotle confirmed that the restaurant had reopened. She earlier said the location had been closed out of an “abundance of caution” after the company was told by local officials of two customers complaining of illness.
Traci Whittaker, a spokeswoman for the health department in Delaware County, said they had received more than 100 calls related to the investigation. A cause of the outbreak hasn’t been determined, but “if samples are given and delivered to the lab, we may have results by Friday or the beginning of next week.”
“They are complaints, but nothing can be confirmed without laboratory testing,” Whittaker said, referring to the calls.
After falling for three consecutive years, the Chipotle’s shares had spiked 61 percent in 2018 prior to the news of the illnesses in Ohio. The biggest intraday slide in a month sent the stock as low as $425.88 on Tuesday. Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management is the chain’s biggest shareholder.
The latest round of negative headlines comes amid renewed optimism on Wall Street that the chain can mount a comeback under Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol, the Taco Bell veteran who took over in March. Prior to Tuesday, the Mexican chain had been recovering from a food-safety crisis that battered its brand. Chipotle recently posted same-stores sales that beat estimates for the second quarter as Niccol starts to reshape the company, with new menu items, increased marketing, a delivery push and store remodels.
The chain was upgraded to buy from hold by Andy Barish, an analyst at Jefferies, in a research note sent to clients early Tuesday. He cited the shift to digital sales and operational improvements that should help boost sales. Barish said Tuesday in an email that he was not changing his view on the company in light of the incident.
This “appears to be an isolated incidence in Ohio,” he said, calling it “obviously unfortunate but not indicative” of the changes and training improvements the chain has put in place.
Local health records available online indicate that restaurant inspectors visited the Ohio restaurant, located about 18 miles north of Columbus, on July 26 and found lettuce and beans that weren’t stored at the proper temperature. The Delaware General Health District, the county agency, said it was notified about three days later that five patrons who ate at the restaurant were sick. They got an additional two reports the next day. The records also indicate that as many as five employees of the restaurant got sick.
Local official visited the restaurant on Tuesday and “did not find anything that would prevent them from opening.”
(Updates with restaurant reopening and info from local health officials.)