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Focusing On Food Loss And Food Waste: 2017 Food Tank Summit NYC: September 13
Focusing On Food Loss And Food Waste: 2017 Food Tank Summit NYC: September 13
DATE AND TIME
Wed, September 13, 2017
9:30 AM – 6:00 PM EDT Add to Calendar
LOCATION
The Greene Space
44 Charlton Street New
New York, NY 10014
* FOOD TANK IS COMMITTED TO BUILDING AN ENGAGED AND DIVERSE AUDIENCE. YOU MUST HAVE AN ACCESS CODE TO PURCHASE TICKETS FOR THIS EVENT. TO APPLY, PLEASE FILL OUT THIS FORM. HURRY, THIS EVENT WILL SELL OUT!*
Food Tank, ReFED, and The Rockefeller Foundation are excited to announce the inaugural NYC Food Tank Summit! This one-day event will feature more than three dozen different speakers from the food and agriculture field. Researchers, farmers, chefs, policy makers, government officials, and students will come together for discussions on diverse topics. The theme for the Summit is Focusing on Food Loss and Food Waste.
This Food Tank Summit is being held in partnership with ReFED and with support from The Rockefeller Foundation. ReFED is a multi-stakeholder nonprofit, powered by an influential network of the nation’s leading business, nonprofit, foundation, and government leaders committed to reducing U.S. food waste. The Rockefeller Foundation is supporting this Food Tank Summit as part of its $130 million YieldWise initiative, launched in January 2016 to address the global crisis of food loss and waste. The Foundation is working with private, public and nonprofit actors to foster a “greener revolution” in the food system, and connecting good ideas with the actors who can implement them at scale. Together, we can halve global food loss and waste and realize major benefits for people, companies, cities, and the planet.
This is the third event in our 2017 Food Tank Summit Series, which will bring together some of the world’s most impactful food system leaders. Every Food Tank Summit to-date has sold out, and more than 175,000 viewers from around the globe have tuned in for the livestream. This is a can’t miss event for 2017!
Confirmed Speakers Include:
- Emily Bachman, Compost Program Manager, Zero Waste Programs, GrowNYC
- Elizabeth Balkan, Director of Policy and Senior Advisor, Office of the Commissioner at NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY)
- John Boyd, Jr., Founder and President, National Black Farmers Association
- Joan Briggs, Executive Director, Fink Family Foundation
- Gigi Lee Chang, Managing Director, FoodFutureCo
- Chris Cochran, Executive Director, ReFED
- Tom Colicchio, Chef and Owner, Craft restaurants & ‘wichcraft
- Ron Gonen, Co-Founder and CEO, Closed Loop Partners
- Tony Hillery, Executive Director, Harlem Grown
- Helen Hollyman, Editor-In-Chief, MUNCHIES
- Lynette Johnson, Executive Director, Society of St. Andrews
- Prasanta Kalita, Director, ADM Institute for the Prevention of Postharvest Loss, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Justin Kamine, Partner, KDC Ag - Kamine Development Corporation
- Sam Kass, Chef, Entrepreneur, and Founder, TROVE
- Devon Klatell, Associate Director, The Rockefeller Foundation
- Jude Medeiros, Regional Vice President of Schools, Sodexo
- Clare Miflin, Architect, Kiss + Cathcart
- Monica Munn, Senior Program Associate, The Rockefeller Foundation
- Kimbal Musk, Chef & Co-Founder, The Kitchen
- Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank
- Tinia Pina, Founder & CEO, Re-Nuble
- Brian Roe, Professor, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University
- Stephanie Strom, Food Business Writer, The New York Times
- Brian Wansink, Professor and Director, Cornell University Food and Brand Lab
- Jocelyn Zuckerman, Contributing Editor, Modern Farmer
- Konstantin Zvereff, Founder and CEO, BlueCart
Ticket Information and Details:
The Summit. Includes the entire Food Tank Summit (breakfast and lunch provided) on September 13th. 35+ incredible speakers held at The Greene Space. $299 (scholarships available).
Food Tank is committed to building an engaged and diverse audience. Tickets for this event are available by application only. To apply, please fill out this form. We provide full and partial ticket scholarships for students, farmers, individuals with financial need, and other underrepresented groups. You can apply for scholarships on the ticket application. Hurry, this event will sell out!
Thank you to our Summit partners, sponsors, and media partners: Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition, Blue Apron, ReFED, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Sealed Air.
Interested in becoming a sponsor? Please email Bernard Pollack at bernard@foodtank.com for more details
Interestested in volunteering? Please send your resume and availablity to Vanesa Botero-Lowry at vanesa@foodtank.com.
Food Tank's Refund Policy: We understand that schedules change. The deadline to cancel your registration and receive a full refund is August 13, 2017. Any requests made after August 13, 2017 can not be processed
Vertical Farming Using LED lights – Interview With Céline Nicole, Philips Lighting Research
Vertical Farming Using LED lights – Interview With Céline Nicole, Philips Lighting Research
Posted on 20/06/2017 by Diana Macovei
Vertical Farming using LED lights – Interview with Céline Nicole, Philips Lighting Research
Céline Nicole, from Philips Lighting Research will present her vision on the developments of Vertical Farming using LED lights on the 28th of June, at the Vertical Farming Conference in Venlo, The Netherlands.
Plant scientist and researcher Céline Nicole worked at Philips Horticulture LEDs solutions for 8 years and at the Philips Lighting Research for 16 years.
Since the year 2000, vertical farms have been introduced to grow vegetables and soft fruits. As LED lights became increasingly efficient they have become the light source of choice for commercial scale vertical farming.
How has vertical farming become so efficient?
“With the growing population, living in cities more and more, we need a solution to feed the world. Vertical farming represents a contribution to meeting that challenge. With this technology, growing conditions can be controlled including the climate, the water, nutrition and the light. Philips Lighting uses different light combinations which we call light recipes. These are a combination of different LED colours (spectrum), intensity and lighting hours per day. In vertical farming, water is re-used making this system very sustainable for water usage (more than 90% on water savings). No pesticides or other chemicals are used because there are no external influences getting inside the farm and everything used inside the farm is sterile. Accurate control of the climate allows crop growth in the best conditions. And because there are no seasons inside the farm, the yield per year is the highest of what can be achieved compared to other ways of growing crops.,” according to Nicole.
In addition, vertical farms can be built close to or in cities, allowing the shortest time from farm to fork. That increases useful shelf-life of the fresh produce and improves logistics, and therefore also contributes to reduced food waste.
You create an indoor climate, but is that good for the vegetables, as nature has its reasons for varying conditions.
Nature and climate varies much on the surface of the globe. For plant growth, tropical regions are rather mild in temperature and humidity, while continental or temperate climates have colder and warmer months with variations in humidity. Vegetables are originating from all over the world and have therefore evolved for different climate and light conditions. In a vertical farm it is possible to create a climate close to the optimal growing conditions for each variety.
For example, spinach likes it cold, especially at the start of growth and we can adjust the climate in order to optimize its growth and quality. In contrast, Basil likes it warm because it is a tropical plant, but it is grown in Europe as an annual crop. This is changing with vertical farming as we can now grow Basil at any time of the year, regardless of the season, and of a very high quality.
“Optimizing growing conditions for plants doesn’t always necessarily mean that it is good for the plant, sometimes it is done to achieve benefits for the consumer. For example, growing red oak lettuce in a climate and with light settings that is good for plant biomass production will not always create a good red colour like it would when grown outside in the summer. This is in fact a ‘stress response’ due to the UV component in sunlight. With the knowledge that we are gathering at Grow Wise centre and with our customers, we are developing and fine-tuning growth recipes for different crops. With vertical farming we can create climates and light conditions that mimic the natural environmental changes, in order to trigger the plant to produce those photo protective pigments (anthocyanin) and make them identical to when grown outside,” says Nicole.
Can you elaborate on Nitrates and health?
For decades there has been a controversy about assessing the possible negative health effects of nitrates ingested from vegetables. Over the past 5-10 years, more and more articles have appeared claiming the opposite, that nitrate consumption is healthy. It was shown to have an antimicrobial activity and also to enable the body to produce nitric oxide which is believed to have an important physiological role in vascoregulation and therefore beneficial for cardiovascular patients. The vascoregulation has been proved and is used by high level sportive people who need to perform in a short time frame. Still, the association of high nitrate levels has a negative impact on consumer minds. The Dutch food authorities’ recommendation has recently changed the advice on spinach and high nitrate vegetables. The limitation of daily uptake in grams has vanished in the Netherlands and some other countries. This is probably due to recent research showing that people eating on average more vegetables per day are more likely to be healthy. However, since there is no scientific consensus, it is wise to know how to limit the amount of nitrate when growing leafy vegetables, especially for those vegetables containing a lot (like spinach or rucola).
“With vertical farming we can provide both, low or high nitrate vegetables. Some of our customers desire to have a very low nitrate level in leafy vegetables, and we can help them by providing this. We can also provide a ‘runners’ lettuce with an ultra-high nitrate content if anyone asks. For sure, with vertical farming we are preventing pollution of the environment from overusing nitrogen fertilizers as the irrigation circuit is closed and water is recycled.” Concludes Nicole
For more information and registration to the Vertical Farming Conference, we invite you to visit https://www.verticalfarmingconference.com/
The interview was made by Jakajima, the organiser of the conference. For more interviews with speakers at Jakajima conferences, we invite you to visit Jakajima’s website
We Kid You Not: Goats Clean Up Parks and Educate Communities on Urban Farming
We Kid You Not: Goats Clean Up Parks and Educate Communities on Urban Farming
By AINE CREEDON | June 16, 2017
June 14, 2017; Denver Post
Imagine waking up on a Saturday morning to eight goats being walked on leashes down your street, heading to a local park where the honorary goat-welcoming committee awaits them. In Wheat Ridge, a western Denver suburb, this unusual landscaping goat crew turning heads is becoming a local attraction and is also educating communities on urban agriculture.
In 2013, Wheat Ridge’s Five Fridges Farm was struggling with how to address an overgrown noxious weed problem they were facing. The land was in a tough spot for lawnmower access, and chemicals simply weren’t an option for the local organic urban farm. So, Five Fridges Farm decided to bring in a group of its LaMancha male goats to the 1.5-acre enclosure, where they spent several weeks grazing on weeds.
Using goats as landscapers has become a perfect solution to their problem and they are now being brought to graze in other open spaces within the community. Due to their unique digestive systems, goats are able to consume invasive weeds without redistributing any of the seeds in their excrement. As the weeds are removed, the goats enjoy a nutritious meal, and the land also further benefits from fresh manure for fertilization.
Amy Weaver, owner of Five Fridges Farm, says the most surprising outcome of the project has been the community support that has erupted. Over the past few years, the goats have become a big hit with local residents, which flock to visit the hard workers cleaning up their parks.
This is the fourth year the Wheat Ridge community has successfully used LaMancha goats to manage invasive weeds and vegetation in natural areas, and these popular yearly visitors are providing a great opportunity to educate the community about urban farming. “People have big questions about their food system. This is a place where people can ask questions without judgment,” Amy Weaver explained. “The money from the products isn’t what fuels the farm. It’s the education that comes from it.”—Aine Creedon
ABOUT AINE CREEDON
Aine Creedon is Nonprofit Quarterly's Digital Publishing Coordinator and has worn many hats at NPQ over the past five years. She has extensive experience with social media, communications and outreach in the nonprofit sector, and spent two years in Americorps programs serving with a handful of organizations across the nation. Aine currently resides in Denver, Colorado where she enjoys hiking with her dog Frida and is currently serving on the advisory board of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network Denver and also co-leads their Marketing and Communications Committee.
Vertical Farming Conference
Vertical Farming Conference
Herman van Bekkem will discuss the Greenpeace vision for ecological farming and especially Vertical Farming in Europe’s main cities, on the 28 June 2017, at the Vertical Farming Conference in Venlo, The Netherlands. Herman van Bekkem is an agricultural expert with Greenpeace and tries to educate the agricultural sector for ecological farming on the seven principles set up by Greenpeace. (The report on the Greenpeace vision for ecological farming, and the seven principles, can be downloaded freely from their website)
“There are many pros and cons regarding Vertical Farming, but this development offers the possibility to use far less pesticides and fungicides, which are no longer needed. This way the impact on the environment is reduced as well which is a great benefit. But the question is if Vertical farming is the solution to many of the agricultural challenges, as we know them today,” says Van Bekkem.
Culture
“The present use of large numbers of greenhouses for instance in the Netherlands has its pros, but also a larger number of cons. By planting huge amounts of the same crop in one greenhouse creates a good feeding ground for fungi and plagues. Simply the uniformity makes it very vulnerable to any diseases which may be in the greenhouse. That is why we encourage farmers to grow different kinds of crops in one greenhouse so as to build in some resistance and use far less pesticides and fungicides.
“A monoculture in a greenhouse has many weaknesses and this way you can turn it around. This new way of farming is also important for Vertical Farming as it is close to a greenhouse culture,” according to Van Bekkem.
He is reserved on the success of Vertical Farming especially in Western Europe. He explains his view:
“There are not that many vertical farms in cities, look at the Netherlands, there are only very few of them. Only in Asia you see them now coming up in cities. But the biggest problem is that a handful of large corporations control large parts of our food system right this moment, which is in fact not working in a positive way for Vertical Farming. Corporations and food policy makers are stubbornly sticking to an increase in yields as the global goal. This obscures the real challenge; we need to rethink how we use the food we are producing, right now and in the future. In a better food system, ecological livestock systems would make use of the agricultural land and resources not required for human food needs and at the same time drastically reduce the amount of animal products we produce and consume globally.”
Use of insects
Van Bekkem is also very positive about the use of insects to battle crop illnesses.
“At a micro and macro level it is most useful to use insects, to counter insects that attack the crop or otherwise destroy it. Instead of pesticides you can use for instance the parasitic wasp or the predatory mite, two useful weapons in the battle against the insect pests. Not only do they take care of each other but also the soil improves where the crop is grown. Even flowers will bloom and with the right seasonable change of crop the soil improves a lot. But on top of that the crop gets stronger and more resistant towards any enemies. This way the circle is round again and the environment has much improved.“
Sustainable
“It is possible to increase soil fertility without the use of chemicals. Ecological Farming also protects soils from erosion, pollution and acidification. By increasing soil organic matter where necessary, we can enhance water retention and prevent land degradation. Something which we can do on the small scale vertical farms very directly, so as to improve the quality of food directly as well as the enclosed environment,” concludes Van Bekkem.
For more information and registration to the Vertical Farming Conference, go to: https://www.verticalfarmingconference.com/
The interview was made by Jakajima, the organiser of the conference.
Sheryl Crow, Jack Johnson & The Avett Brothers to Join Willie Nelson & Friends at Farm Aid
Sheryl Crow, Jack Johnson & The Avett Brothers to Join Willie Nelson & Friends at Farm Aid
6/13/2017 by Thom Duffy
Sheryl Crow and Willie Nelson onstage at Beacon Theatre in New York City.
Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Sheryl Crow, Jack Johnson and the Avett Brothers will join Willie Nelson and friends at the 32nd annual Farm Aid food and music festival taking place Sept. 16 at the KeyBank Pavilion in Burgettstown, Pa., outside Pittsburgh.
The guiding foursome of Farm Aid -- Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews -- also will share the bill with Jamey Johnson, Blackberry Smoke, Valerie June, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real and Insects vs. Robots, with other artists to be announced. Matthews will perform an acoustic set with Tim Reynolds, as part of their summer tour. Promise of the Real backed Young on his 2015 album The Monsanto Years and a subsequent tour.
Tickets for the concert go on sale June 23 via LiveNation.com and Ticketmaster. A limited number of pre-sale tickets will be sold beginning at noon ET June 14 at farmaid.org/concert.
Each of this year's featured headliners is a longtime supporter of Farm Aid and its efforts to support family farmers, and the Good Food Movement. Crow, who has been touring this summer with Nelson and Bob Dylan, played Farm Aid in 2003 in Columbus Ohio. The Avett Brothers previously have played benefits for organizations including the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association in their native North Carolina, and Johnson has been a frequent presence at Farm Aid (including one memorable appearance as a cow).
10 Reasons Why Willie Nelson's Farm Aid Is Unlike Any Other Music Festival
This marks the third time Farm Aid has come to Pennsylvania, following concerts in Burgettstown in 2002 and Hersey, Pa. in 2012. Agriculture is the state's leading economic enterprise, contributing nearly $75 billion to the state's economy each year. The state is home to 58,200 farms and ranks 22nd nationally in farm sales.
Pennsylvania is also considered the birthplace of organic agriculture and a leader in sustainable agriculture practices. In Pittsburgh, 30 miles east of the concert venue, urban farming has thrived. The organization Grow Pittsburgh has launched more than 60 farms to increase access to fresh food and farm training programs for young people.
"Family farm agriculture is the heart of Pennsylvania," says Nelson, founder and president of Farm Aid. "What's happening in western Pennsylvania and the region shows us that we can count on family farmers to strengthen our communities and connect people. Whether we live in rural or urban places, food -- and music -- brings us all together."
At the same time, western Pennsylvania has lost 2,539 farms -- a 13 percent drop -- in the past decade, an example of an economic crisis facing farmers nationwide. Farmers have faced a multiyear slump in crop and livestock prices. Since 2013, America’s farmers and ranchers have weathered a 45 percent drop in net farm income, the largest three-year drop since the start of the Great Depression, Farm Aid reports.
The circumstances echo the farm foreclosure crisis of the mid '80s that led Nelson to stage the first Farm Aid benefit on Sept. 22, 1985 in Champaign, Ill. The farm advocates who rose up in that era were recently profiled in a new documentary, Homeplace Under Fire.
Farm Aid has been staged every year since 1985, at venues around the country, and is the longest-running concert for a cause in pop music history. Since Nelson founded the organization, it has raised $50 million for advocacy efforts and direct support of farmers.
But more than an annual benefit concert, Farm Aid has been a 30-year-plus effort, led by Nelson, to fight corporate control of America's farmland, shape national farming policy, and promote the Good Food Movement.
Each year, Farm Aid serves as an annual gathering of activists focused on food issues, environmentalism and social-justice battles. Many farmers and activists travel to the event to network, share strategies, listen to the music and eat family farm food on a menu that Farm Aid has trademarked "Homegrown Concessions." With composting practiced backstage and promoted to the audience, the concert aims for zero waste.
Farm Aid's support of family farmers extends to its policy of accepting sponsorship only from companies that share its mission. California-based Bonterra Organic Vineyards will be a sponsor of Farm Aid 2017.
Prior to this year's concert, Farm Aid is teaming up with IfOnly to sell and auction signed memorabilia and behind-the-scene tours at this year's event.
Farm Aid also is encouraging festivalgoers and supporters to use the hashtags #FarmAid2017 and #Road2FarmAid to join discussions about this year's concert on social media.
Farm to School Grows With USDA Grants
Since 2013, the Office of Community Food Systems has awarded over $20 million to more than 300 grantees for farm to school, which encompasses efforts to integrate regional foods in child nutrition programs. It also connects children to the source of their food through cooking classes, taste-tests, farm visits and school gardens. Grants range from $14,500 to $100,000 for farm to school planning, implementation and training.
Farm to School Grows With USDA Grants
Omar, the school garden club coordinator, instructs a group of seventh grade students to “pick an adult” and lead them to the greenhouse. The bright blue sky and expansive mountain range set a dramatic backdrop for the six raised beds and two greenhouses. Mona, a precocious 12 year-old student at Magdalena Middle School in New Mexico, wastes no time charging into the greenhouse and swiftly picking red leaf lettuce.
Since 2013, the Office of Community Food Systems has awarded over $20 million to more than 300 grantees for farm to school, which encompasses efforts to integrate regional foods in child nutrition programs. It also connects children to the source of their food through cooking classes, taste-tests, farm visits and school gardens. Grants range from $14,500 to $100,000 for farm to school planning, implementation and training.
In May, Erin Healy, the USDA's Director of the Office of Community Food Systems, Food and Nutrition Service, had the chance to visit New Mexico’s Magdalena Municipal School District, a 2015 and 2017 Farm to School grantee. The school used the 2015 funds to contract with Omar, a local farmer who mentors students to grow and harvest over 10 crops. Students proudly shared what they learned from the garden club, including “irrigation systems” and “how to get rid of aphids using ladybugs.” The school’s salad bar is the star of the lunchroom and is described as “restaurant-quality,” as it includes student-grown lettuce, leafy greens, cucumbers and tomatoes from the school garden. Since they no longer need to purchase lettuce during the winter, the cafeteria staff shared, “the garden has saved us a lot of money!”
Using additional grant funds from the state, the school will pay students to maintain the garden through the summer and sell the produce at a farm stand. This type of program is incredibly important in a community like Magdalena, where the closest grocery store is 30 miles away. Joaquin Lujan, a local farmer and partner to the school garden project, explained “New Mexico is one of the poorest economies in the country, and kids go hungry. It is vital that projects like this survive.” When Leslie Clark, the school principal, and Michael Chavez, the New Mexico Department of Education State Director, were asked what they would say to fellow administrators about the benefits of Farm to School, they responded “It reaches kids that would not otherwise be reached and engages them in learning.”
On June 12, the USDA awarded Farm to School grants to 65 grantees, which will reach approximately 5,500 schools and more than 2 million students. Selected projects are located in urban, rural and suburban areas across 42 states and Puerto Rico. The USDA estimates that 37 percent of the target school districts are rural. Additionally, 14 projects will occur in the pre-K environment, while 27 projects will occur in summer feeding programs. State agencies and Indian Tribal Organizations remain a priority for Farm to School grant funding. And this year, 17 state agencies and one Indian Tribal Organization, The Karuk Tribe of California, will be funded.
Learn more about this year’s grantees by checking out the 2017 Farm to School List of Awardees.
Publication date: 6/19/2017
The Vertical Farming Summit
The Vertical Farming Summit
The future of food is being developed in tech hubs and cities around the world. If you’re not currently in one of those places, going to live events is a great way to learn more about vertical farming and urban agriculture.
If you haven’t been able to make it to any in person AgTech events, Chris created this online event for you.
Check out: The Vertical Farming Summit!
Chris Powers recently had the honor and the opportunity to interview a lot of innovators who are working hard to build the future of food
The Vertical Farming Summit will be live June 16-25th with a number of additional sessions and live trainings happening that week.
Here’s what you’ll learn during the summit:
- A methodology for developing your vertical farming business and planning for success.
Lessons on building a mission driven, venture backed startup around fresh food.
Creative new forms of distribution for gourmet plants and mushrooms.
How to use crop data to unlock higher profits.
How to turn waste into opportunity and using organics in hydroponic systems
The Power of a Plant: A Teacher's Odyssey to Grow Healthy Minds and Schools
How to turn your positive environmental impact into a competitive advantage in the new economy.
How to build your network and land exciting new opportunities in urban agriculture.
Farm Marketing -- How to boost sales and profits using automation and customer research.
The 12 steps to becoming an urban or vertical farmer.
Legal considerations when setting up a farm / agtech business.
Why sunlight isn’t free and other insights from AeroFarms.
Closed loop technology and how to start growing your own food at home.
AVA, Urban futurism and the impacts of digitization on agriculture.
Insights from successful agricultural businesses.
Projects that you should be paying attention to and following.
Top resources and recommendations for learning about urban agriculture and vertical farming.
How to pitch your vertical farming business to investors.
How to start small and scale up intentionally.
… and many more sessions to be announced.
This summit will be 100% online, which means you can learn about these exciting topics and connect with the speakers from anywhere you can get a connection.
The Vertical Farming Summit will be streaming for free from June 16-25th to reach as many people as possible.
If you can’t make all the sessions you can grab an All-Access Pass.
Chris Powers is excited to share all of these expert interviews with you and is looking forward to seeing you in the summit!
About the author: Chris Powers is an entrepreneur and urban agriculture advocate who is using digital marketing to share knowledge about emerging technologies in food.
Sign Up For The Virtual Summit and The Blog to Learn More
Plant Based Foods Association Launches New Research and Education Initiative
Plant Based Foods Association Launches New Research and Education Initiative
The Plant Based Foods Association is expanding its reach with an affiliated organization called the "PBFA Research and Education Fund" to determine best practices and conduct outreach to promote plant-based foods.
It’s an exciting time for the plant-based foods industry. This new initiative will allow us to apply best practices to support this growing food sector and reach more consumers.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA (PRWEB) JUNE 14, 2017
Today, the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA), the trade association representing the plant-based foods sector, announced the launch of an affiliated organization called the PBFA Research and Education Fund.
The new non-profit will conduct outreach to retailers to expand shelf space for plant-based foods, as well as help food service directors offer more plant-based options.
“It’s an exciting time for the plant-based foods industry. This new initiative will allow us to apply best practices to support this growing sector and reach more consumers,” said Michele Simon, executive director of the Plant Based Foods Association, who will also lead the new organization.
Board members of the new entity include two board members from PBFA: Jaime Athos, CEO of The Tofurky Company, and Martin Kruger, COO of Follow Your Heart.
Joining them is Julie Mann, global protein program manager at Ingredion Incorporated. “Given my background in plant-based proteins, I am genuinely passionate to contribute my expertise to further the plant-based foods movement,” said Ms. Mann.
In the longer term, the group plans to conduct research projects to determine best practices for merchandising plant-based foods, and understand what drives consumers to purchase more plant-based foods.
"Because the new organization is organized as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, we can receive donations and grants from foundations, individuals, and others seeking to support the plant-based movement in an innovative way to help grow the market," Simon added.
The Plant Based Foods Association is a trade association representing 90 of the nation’s leading plant-based food companies. Launched in March 2016, the association engages in policy advocacy and outreach to promote the growing sector of plant-based foods.
USDA Announces Grants Designed to Increase Amount of Local Food Served in Schools
USDA Announces Grants Designed to Increase Amount of Local Food Served in Schools
June 13, 2017 | seedstock
News Release: WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced the projects selected to receive the USDA’s annual farm to school grants designed to increase the amount of local foods served in schools. Sixty-five projects were chosen nationwide.
“Increasing the amount of local foods in America’s schools is a win-win for everyone,” said Cindy Long, Deputy Administrator for Child Nutrition Programs at USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, which administers the Department’s school meals programs. “Farm to school projects foster healthy eating habits among America’s school-age children, and local economies are nourished, as well, when schools buy the food they provide from local producers.”
According to the 2015 USDA Farm to School Census, schools with strong farm to school programs report higher school meal participation, reduced food waste, and increased willingness of the students to try new foods, such as fruits and vegetables. In addition, in school year 2013-2014 alone, schools purchased more than $789 million in local food from farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and food processors and manufacturers. Nearly half (47 percent) of these districts plan to purchase even more local foods in future school years.
Grants range from $14,500 to $100,000, awarding a total of $5 million to schools, state agencies, tribal groups, and nonprofit organizations for farm to school planning, implementation, or training. Projects selected are located in urban, suburban and rural areas in 42 states and Puerto Rico, and they are estimated to serve more than 5,500 schools and 2 million students.
This money will support a wide range of activities from training, planning, and developing partnerships to creating new menu items, establishing supply chains for local foods, offering taste tests to children, buying equipment, planting school gardens and organizing field trips to agricultural operations, Long said. State and local agency interest and engagement in community food systems is growing. Having received 44 applications from state or local agencies, 17 state agencies will receive funding.
Grantees include the Nebraska Department of Education, which will refine and expand the “Nebraska Thursdays” program, which will focus on increasing locally sourced meals throughout Nebraska schools, and the Virginia Department of Education, which will focus on network building to ensure stakeholders from all different sectors are leveraged. Both the South Dakota Department of Education and the Arkansas Agriculture Department will use training grants to build capacity and knowledge about the relationship between Community Food Systems and Child Nutrition Programs. More information on individual projects can be found on the USDA Office of Community Food Systems’ website at www.fns.usda.gov/farmtoschool/grant-awards.
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service administers 15 nutrition assistance programs that include the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), and the Summer Food Service Program. Together, these programs comprise America’s nutrition safety net. Farm to school is one of many ways USDA supports locally-produced food and the Local Food Compass Map showcases the federal investments in these efforts. For more information, visit www.fns.usda.gov.
Lake Stevens High Seniors Convert Fridge to Hydroponic Garden
Lake Stevens High School seniors Isabelle Eelnurme (left) and Elise Gooding converted an old refrigerator to a hydroponic garden for their engineering design class. Their award-winning device is for growing healthy, nutritious produce in food deserts. (Dan Bates / The Herald)
Lake Stevens High Seniors Convert Fridge to Hydroponic Garden
- KARI BRAY Sat Jun 10th, 2017 1:30am
LAKE STEVENS — Isabelle Eelnurme and Elise Gooding salvaged the small refrigerator from Eelnurme’s grandparents’ back yard.
It was a putrid shade of yellow. The brand label wore off long ago. They cleaned out bugs and grime.
Then the teens painted it turquoise and turned it into a hydroponic garden. It’s a contained produce-growing system that doesn’t require soil or much space. They picture it in apartments in neighborhoods where poverty is high and access to fresh fruit and vegetables is limited.
At the beginning of the school year, the 18-year-olds set out to find a solution for food deserts, which are areas where people lack healthy, affordable food. During their research, they noted a link to health issues such as diabetes. They also found that there are deserts close to home, with more than a dozen in Seattle.
The transformation of an old refrigerator into a hydroponic garden was a year-long project, part of the engineering and design course at Lake Stevens High School. The friends have been in engineering classes since they were in ninth grade. Both plan to continue with those studies.
Gooding is bound for California Polytechnic State University and Eelnurme for the University of Washington this fall. Both are interested in civil engineering, and Eelnurme also wants to focus on environmental engineering.
The engineering and design course has been at the high school for about 10 years, teacher Kit Shanholtzer said. Students from the program have gone on to find success. He recalls one phone call from the FBI to background a job candidate, one of the first students who had gone through the course.
Students are tasked with defining an issue, researching solutions and coming up with their own version of how to solve the problem. Some look at transportation projects such as trains and bridges, while others focus on safety, health and quality of life.
“It’s wonderful when I can just mentor and guide, and the students have the drive and passion to do the project,” Shanholtzer said.
Eelnurme and Gooding have that drive. They’re professional and dedicated to their work, he said.
Though a school year seems like a long time for one project, students just have an hour per day in class, Shanholtzer said. If the annual hours are converted into 40-hour work weeks, students have about a month.
They don’t need to come up with new inventions, but rather an innovative approach to an existing solution. Hydroponic gardens aren’t new. Recycling outdated appliances into an easy-to-use system is a creative approach. Next, Eelnurme and Gooding hope to make one with a full-size fridge.
The two talked over more than 60 ideas before settling, they said. They wanted to think outside the box, but keep their project realistic.
Neither knew what a food desert was prior to doing an essay for their college-level English class. They learned just how widespread and often invisible the problem is.
“We didn’t know people were going without fresh produce,” Eelnurme said. “All they have is maybe a convenience store or fast food because fresh produce is too far away, and they don’t have a car to get there. We need to bring the produce to them.”
Inside the fridge-turned-garden, the portion that once was a freezer is where seeds start to germinate in small, cubic pods. The pods then go into the main body of the fridge, with a water spout and aerator. A gutter downspout has been repurposed into a container and magnetically attached inside the fridge. Once a plant grows to edible size, the downspout can be pulled out, the pod removed and a new one slotted in. The system doesn’t work for root plants such as carrots, but it’s good for lettuce, spinach and other leafy greens.
The students took their work to several engineering fairs, winning accolades at the regional and state level. Most recently, they received an honorable mention at the Imagine Tomorrow engineering fair at Washington State University, where more than 100 teams competed.
The WSU competition was the same day as their prom, so they woke up at 6 a.m. on the other side of the state, spent most of the day at the fair and caught an hour-long flight home to dance in Seattle. They got home around 1 a.m., exhausted and accomplished.
They hope students in next year’s engineering and design program will find projects they’re passionate about, and have fun while they figure out ways to make a difference in the world.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
With their refrigerator-turned-hydroponic garden, Isabelle Eelnurme and Elise Gooding received an honorable mention at the Imagine Tomorrow engineering fair at Washington State University, where more than 100 teams competed. (Dan Bates / The Herald)
The Green Bronx Machine
The Green Bronx Machine
BY GGWTV ON MAY 30, 2017
In the years of creating episodes for our national television series, Growing a Greener World on PBS, we’ve had the privilege of meeting and featuring some of the world’s most genuine heroes to tell their extraordinary stories.
Each is doing something incredible for people or the planet through organic gardening, healthy food, nurturing sustainable lifestyles and more.
Stephen Ritz – The man with the ever-present cheese hat, and founder of the Green Bronx Machine. And perhaps the most tireless man we’ve ever met.
Then along came Stephen Ritz, educator, creator, and founder of the Green Bronx Machine. It’s the term given to his one-of-a-kind incredible learning environment, originally started and still growing strong in the Bronx and now spreading out around the world.
On breaks from college, Daughter Michaela Ritz is an ever-present force of her own at CS-55.
Over the three days our crew was embedded in CS-55, the school where Stephen voluntarily spends most of his life (along with his wife Lizette and adult daughter Michaela), our unique perspective allowed witness to a man fully present in his life’s mission—to nurture his students with love and respect. It moved us to tears more than once as we savored every moment of joy and energy radiating from his students in response.
Former White House pastry chef Bill Yosses has become an integral part of the Green Bronx Machine volunteer force.
It only takes a moment after meeting Stephen to know that this is a man devoted to changing the lives of his students. Through passion, patience, and the power of a plant that produces real food (as in fresh fruits and vegetables), Stephen Ritz and his Green Bronx Machine are building healthy minds and bodies and empowering thousands of children to discover and exploit the potential they never knew they had.
Stephen Ritz is like the Pied Piper. Students savor every moment of “Mr. Ritz time”.
Although this episode packs a lot into a 22-minute show, you can learn much more of the story behind it all. The Power of a Plant is the recently released book on the extraordinary journey of Stephen Ritz—indeed one of the world’s most genuine heroes and important role models of our time.
A personal note from Joe Lamp’l
To all of you who watched this episode to the very end, this one got me as you now know. After days of seeing so much love from students to teacher, and back again, it was a lot of emotion to keep bottled up. We made two separate trips to NY to finish this episode. After returning home from the first trip I truly was emotionally spent. Knowing I was going back for another round, just added to what was already still inside me.
These hugs happen every morning. You can tell some of the students really need these. What a way to start the day.
I wish you could have seen what I saw and will never forget over those three days. This image I call “the hug” was just the tip of the iceberg on what I was able to experience. After witnessing many more scenes like this, I plan to give more hugs and hopefully get more hugs. While the “power of a plant” is truly an amazing thing, you still can’t replace the incredible power of a hug. Thankfully, Stephen Ritz is good with both.
Links to related information from this episode and post
The Power of a Plant – Stephen Ritz’s newly released book
The Green Bronx Machine blog post by Joe Lamp’l
Seeds&Chips Starts By Examining How Millennials are Changing The Food System
Seeds&Chips Starts By Examining How Millennials are Changing The Food System
The third annual Seeds&Chips Global Food Innovation Summit started off with a panel titled How Millennials Are Changing the Food System. Speakers discussed why young people are doing more than just taking pictures of their food. Their activity on social media platform indirectly spearheads change in the food industry. Brands have been forced to adapt by altering their marketing strategies and product lines to meet Millennials’ expectations.
According to Tobias Peggs, founder of Square Roots, Millennials are willing to pay more for local food, expect to know where their food comes from, want healthy snack options, and actively seek out nutritious recipes online. His company seeks to bring the farm to the city and coaches young farmers how to grow nutritious food in urban greenhouses. He hopes that his company can help feed a rapidly urbanizing population and allow consumers to know where their food came from and build a relationship with their local farmer.
Two of the ten speakers during the session were entrepreneurs: Danielle Gould, CEO of Food+Tech Connect, a food and innovation community, and Deepti Sharma Kapur, CEO and founder of FoodtoEat, an online ordering service focused on food trucks and corporate catering.
This panel commenced four days of panel discussions and meetings at Rho Fiera in Milan, Italy, with former U.S. President Barack Obama as the keynote speaker. Following his talk on May 9, Obama will also participate in a panel that includes Sam Kass, the former White House chef and current advisor to Obama. More than 200 international speakers are discussing various topics during the four-day event. Panel discussions are centered around strategies to feed more people with less land.
Marco Gualtieri, Seeds&Chips chairman, has put the focus on young people’s involvement this year. For each Seeds&Chips talk, there will be at least one speaker or panelist under thirty and a “teenovator” under 18 years old who presents their vision for the future of food.
This year, he has also gathered young people to participate in a Hackathon for food waste over the next few days. Gualtieri hopes that they can come up with an innovative solution that reduces waste in the food system. The Hackathon is put on in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, University and Research. There is also a space at the Summit called Give Me Five, where young entrepreneurs can meet a leader for five minutes, to whom they can pitch their ideas.
Click here to view the full schedule for Seeds&Chips. Organizers are urging attendees to use #SaC17 in social media posts relating to the Summit.
Landmark 20-Year Study Finds Pesticides Linked to Depression In Farmers
A landmark study indicates that seven pesticides, some widely used, may be causing clinical depression in farmers. Will the government step in and start regulating these chemical tools?
Landmark 20-Year Study Finds Pesticides Linked to Depression In Farmers
By Dan Nosowitz on November 7, 2014
A landmark study indicates that seven pesticides, some widely used, may be causing clinical depression in farmers. Will the government step in and start regulating these chemical tools?
Earlier this fall, researchers from the National Institute of Health finished up a landmark 20-year study, a study that hasn’t received the amount of coverage it deserves. About 84,000 farmers and spouses of farmers were interviewed since the mid-1990s to investigate the connection between pesticides and depression, a connection that had been suggested through anecdotal evidence for far longer. We called up Dr. Freya Kamel, the lead researcher on the study, to find out what the team learned and what it all means. Spoiler: nothing good.
“There had been scattered reports in the literature that pesticides were associated with depression,” says Kamel. “We wanted to do a new study because we had more detailed data than most people have access to.” That excessive amount of data includes tens of thousands of farmers, with specific information about which pesticides they were using and whether they had sought treatment for a variety of health problems, from pesticide poisoning to depression. Farmers were surveyed multiple times throughout the 20-year period, which gives the researchers an insight into their health over time that no other study has.
“I don’t think there’s anything surprising about the fact that pesticides would affect neurologic function.”
Because the data is so excessive, the researchers have mined it three times so far, the most recent time in a study published just this fall. The first one was concerned with suicide, the second with depression amongst the spouses of farmers (Kamel says “pesticide applicators,” but most of the people applying pesticides are farmers), and the most recent with depression amongst the farmers themselves.
There’s a significant correlation between pesticide use and depression, that much is very clear, but not all pesticides. The two types that Kamel says reliably moved the needle on depression are organochlorine insecticides and fumigants, which increase the farmer’s risk of depression by a whopping 90% and 80%, respectively. The study lays out the seven specific pesticides, falling generally into one of those two categories, that demonstrated a categorically reliable correlation to increased risk of depression.
These types aren’t necessarily uncommon, either; one, called malathion, was used by 67% of the tens of thousands of farmers surveyed. Malathion is banned in Europe, for what that’s worth.
I asked whether farmers were likely to simply have higher levels of depression than the norm, given the difficulties of the job — long hours, low wages, a lack of power due to government interference, that kind of thing — and, according to Kamel, that wasn’t a problem at all. “We didn’t have to deal with overreporting [of depression] because we weren’t seeing that,” she says. In fact, only 8% of farmers surveyed sought treatment for depression, lower than the norm, which is somewhere around 10% in this country. That doesn’t mean farmers are less likely to suffer from depression, only that they’re less likely to seek treatment for it, and that makes the findings, if anything, even stronger.
The study doesn’t really deal with exactly how the pesticides are affecting the farmers. Insecticides are designed to disrupt the way nerves work, sometimes inhibiting specific enzymes or the way nerve membranes work, that kind of thing. It’s pretty complicated, and nobody’s quite sure where depression fits in. “How this ultimately leads to depression, I don’t know that anyone can really fill in the dots there,” says Kamel. But essentially, the pesticides are designed to mess with the nerves of insects, and in certain aspects, our own nervous systems are similar enough to those of insects that we could be affected, too. “I don’t think there’s anything surprising about the fact that pesticides would affect neurologic function,” says Kamel, flatly.
Kamel speaks slowly and precisely, and though her voice is naturally a little quavery, she answered questions confidently and at one point made fun of me a little for a mischaracterization I’d made in a question. The one time she hesitated was when I asked what she thought the result of the study should be; it’s a huge deal, finding out that commonly used pesticides, pesticides approved for use by our own government, are wreaking havoc on the neurological systems of farmers. Kamel doesn’t recommend policy; she’s a scientist and would only go so far as to suggest that we should cut down on the use of pesticides in general.
Others are going further. Melanie Forti, of a farmer advocacy group based in DC, told Vice, “There should be more regulations on the type of pesticides being used.” With any luck, this study will lead to a thorough reexamination of the chemical weapons allowed by farmers.