Food and Faith

Food & Faith Blog has a new location

This blog has moved to a new location with a sleek format.

If you have this blog bookmarked or feeding through an RSS feed, note that the new URL is www.presbyterianmission.org/food-faith.

Join us there!

Food Justice for All Webinar Resources, including The Handbook

Resources from the Food Justice for All Webinar Series

Thank you to all those attending this months Food Justice for All Webinar Series. There is one more webinar that will focus on SNAP/food stamp outreach and Summer Food Service Programs.

1. June 2 2:00-3:00pm (EDT) - Food Justice for All Webinar: SNAP outreach and Summer Feeding Programs

=============

Below you can find resources, video, and answers to frequently asked questions from the Webinar series.

If your congregation or community group would like support in starting a food security or anti-hunger project, please feel free to call us at 502.569.5553, or write us at [email protected]

The first Food Justice for All Webinar was recorded and can be found here. It is 67MB and can be viewed with Windows Media Player (WMP can also be downloaded onto a Mac).

Presentations in the Food Justice for All Webinars:

Download Presbyterian Hunger Program - Community Garden Presentation - public

Download Let's Move Community Garden Guide

Download Let's Move Community Garden Guide (SPANISH)

Download Food Justice Webinar - akb intro_small-minus photos

Download USDA Gleaning Toolkit

Download Faith and Farm Partnerships Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon

Find Answers to Frequently Asked Questions here!

Partners and More Resources:

1) The updated Food Sovereignty for All Handbook: Overhauling the Food System with Faith-Based Initiatives is available free of charge! Download PDF of Food Sovereignty for All Handbook

Thanks to the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon for their work writing and publishing this valuable guide. This is a slightly updated version.

2) See also the US Dept. of Agriculture's Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships website for their helpful tools to start community gardens, summer feeding programs, and Food Stamp outreach projects.

3) Make a commitment to end hunger, obesity, and food insecurity by becoming a "Lets Move" congregation today!

Farm Subsidies, Price Floors & Daryll Ray

If you remember back to the last farm bill reform activities, you may even remember Daryll Ray and his analysis around subsidies. Well, myths around subsidies being the root of all evil in the farming system persist even among groups such as Bread for the World. Granted the issue can seem complex and it's easier to mimic what others say (I certainly confess to this sin), but Professor Ray has done a great job of explaining the real story. Thanks to Presbyterian farmer and advisor, Brad Wilson, we have resources on this topic below at the tip of your fingers. Thank you Brad!

 

And if you wish to learn from and join with Presbyterians discussing (and acting on!) similar topics, such as how folks are overhauling the food system with local and regional faith-based initiatives, you are welcome to join the PCUSA Food and Faith Groupsite. Just sign up to join and you'll soon be part of this growing group of Awesome Agrarian Allies!

 

Daryll Ray of the Agricultural Policy Analysis Center at the University of Tennessee has written many excellent materials on the farm bill, price floors, (“price supports,”) farm subsidies, supply management, and related topics.

 

Ray’s best summary of the topic is probably the Executive Summary to his (et al) 2003 report:  “ Rethinking US Agricultural Policy: Changing Course to Secure Farmer Livelihoods Worldwide.”  

 

For more detail you can then read relevant sections (or all) of the full report.  The accompanying presentation (about 35 slides, ppt/pdf) is also very helpful.

 

Ray has written nearly a dozen years worth of weekly policy columns on farm bill issues, (1-2 pages each) plus an “Archived Series” of earlier columns.  I’ve selected and linked some of the key columns in two of my content boxes at zspace .  Scroll down to “Farm Bill Primer” and also  “Food Crisis Primer,” (which is also about the farm bill).  Look for “APAC” in the links to find the materials from Daryll Ray.  There are also many other excellent materials there, by the other leading farm bill justice advocates (ie. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Food and Water Watch, Tim Wise of the Global Development and Environment program at Tufts University).  There is also a list of my blogs (“Most Recent Content,” etc.,) which specifically fill in some of the missing pieces, and address food movement issues.  

 

Legislative proposals to address these concerns include the Food from Family Farms Act of the National Family Farm Coalition, (and see a series of 3 short videos of earlier proposals starting here,) the Harkin-Gephardt Farm Bill of the 1980s and 1990s, (see a 1980s video slide show here) and Daryll Ray’s proposal in the report cited above (p. 43+ of the report; Ray discusses price supports on pp. 16, 44, 46, etc. of the report, but not much in his columns).

 

Let us know what you think about any of this, for example, by commenting on this.

God's Earth: Too Big to Fail?

2011 National PEC Faith & Environment Conference   "God's Earth: Too Big to Fail?  An Eco-Justice Conversation Among Faith, Science and Culture" August 31 - September 3, 2011, at Highlands Presbyterian Camp and Retreat Center in the mountains of Colorado.      Keynote speakers include Dr.  William Brown, author of The Seven Pillars of Creation: The Bible, Science and the Ecology of Wonder; Dr. Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, senior scientist and director of sustainable foods at the Pesticide Action Network; Carol Raffenspurger, Executive Director of the Science and Environmental Health Network; Dr. Hayes, Professor with expertise in amphibian biology at the University of California Berkley; Dr. Holmes Rolston III, environmental ethics scholar; Dr. John E. Ikerd, professor emeritus of agricultural economics at the University of Missouri Columbia. Special thanks to our conference sponsors, including Environmental Ministries, the Presbytery of Olympia, the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest, Second Presbyterian of Little Rock, and Second Presbyterian Church Indianapolis.     Registration is now open at $125.00 and can be completed online here. List of workshops here. Get all the latest info on the conference on the "Too Big to Fail" blog  here   Featured Speakers and Leaders: Dr. William P. Brown, Professor Conference Plenary Moderator and Worship Leader Recent Work to be discussed at Conference: The Seven Pillars of Creation: The Bible, Science, and the Ecology of Wonder   Tevyn East of The Affording Hope Project Conference Creative Artist Will perform Leaps & Bounds    Dr. Tyrone B. Hayes, Professor Conference Plenary Presenter Click the above link to learn more about his interests, research, and publications   Dr. Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, Senior Scientist of PANNA Conference Plenary Presenter Check out her blog and learn more about her research

Summer Jobs ~ 4 VISTA Summer Associates positions

Extremely Short Deadline: Please APPLY BY THURSDAY, MAY 12
 
Anti-Hunger Americorp*VISTA Summer Associates

Full-time, June 8 - August 16  (10 weeks)
 
Summer Associates are part of a new national program to fight hunger. Help increase access by low-income families to healthy local food through farmers markets, community gardens and Fresh Stops. Expand outreach and education at Summer Food Service Program sites, organize gleaning activities, and link to urban agriculture and food justice efforts. Associates will work closely with the two year-long VISTAs.

* $2,145 living allowance, plus $1,174.60 Americorps Education Award or $288 stipend

Send brief cover letter and resume to andrew.kangbartlett (@ sign) pcusa (dot) org by 5:00 pm on Thursday, May 12.  Must be available for interview (phone or in-person) on May 13 or the morning of May 16. Questions – call Andrew at (502) 569-5388.

Hosted by the Presbyterian Hunger Program, PCUSA, Louisville, KY

Food Sovereignty Explained

All people have the right to decide what they eat and to ensure that food in their community is healthy and accessible for everyone. This is the basic principle behind food sovereignty. If you want to support domestic food security through the production of healthy food at a fair price, and you believe that family farmers and fishers should have the first right to local and regional markets, then food sovereignty is for you.

via www.grassrootsonline.org

This excellent booklet is now available in Spanish (plus English and Portuguese!). Share it with your friends and family. Put it on your bulletin board at work. Read it to your children for a bedtime story...

Connecting food and faith . . .

What are the connections of food sovereignty to our faith values? To our commitment to end hunger? Read Turning the Tables: People First and The Daily Bread by two theologians from Brazil for their reflections on these questions.

Learn more about food sovereignty and consider organizational membership in the US Food Sovereignty Alliance. Congregations may join too!
Click here to go the USFSA website.

These Hands

On Sunday morning, May 1st, I was working in the church garden with the kids during worship. Like many churches, we send the kids out to Sunday School after the Children’s Sermon, and then come running back in for communion on the weeks when it is served. My hands were muddy from scooping holes into the ground for the tomato plants and I did not pause to wash them on my way back into the sanctuary. 

We’re trying to do a little Creation-Care as well as Feed-The-Hungry learning in the garden but quite frankly, that morning, the nearby swing set, not to mention the super cool hillside of mulch had more attraction power then the tomatoes & peppers part. Although harvesting, and eating the peas did pull the kids back from tossing the pine cone bombs for a few minutes. I’m thinking the key to Christian Education with this crew will be the ability to talk fast when the windows open up. Also, bribing with food seems promising as well. 

Food Justice for All Webinars

Do you enjoy eating fresh local food?

Ever wanted your church to grow its own food, or become a pick-up spot for local produce shares?

Do you want to make sure families in need have access to good, healthy food?

Learn from others' experiences about how your congregation can get involved in the movement to bring communities together around fresh, healthy and local food!

Join one of the Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP) "Food Justice for All" webinars!

PHP will be hosting a series of learning calls/webinars to explore ways that congregations around the country are growing community by alleviating hunger and connecting healthy local food to people and communities with little access.  The webinars will detail proven faith-based initiatives like summer-feeding programs, community gardens, farmers markets, tactics for getting local produce in food pantries and kitchens, and other models for linking people with healthy and local food.

Sign up for the webinars by clicking on the registration link below:

1. April 28th 2:00-3:00pm (EDT) - Food Justice for All Webinar: What congregations are doing to build just and sustainable food economies
2. May 5th 2:00-3:00pm (EDT) - Food Justice for All Webinar: Growing community through local food
3. May 12th 2:00-3:00pm (EDT) - Food Justice for All Webinar: What congregations are doing to build just and sustainable food economies
4. May 19th 2:00-3:00pm (EDT) - Food Justice for All Webinar: SNAP outreach and Summer Feeding Programs
5. May 26th 2:00-3:00pm (EDT) - Food Justice for All Webinar: What congregations are doing to build just and sustainable food economies
   
   

 

Farm workers inspire (and feed) the world

On Thursday, a special group of folks from around the world joined in a spirited protest with farm workers from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), students and people of faith from various churches in the area. The protest took place in front of a Publix supermarket in Naples, Florida. The CIW has been asking Publix to work with them to end poverty wages and abuses in the fields.

Pictured is Dr. Aruna Gnanadason from India, who is one of 30 people gathered for a Justice Reading consultation with the World Council of Reformed Churches here in Fort Myers. We spent the first day together with the farm workers in Immokalee to ground our consultation in current justice issues of worker exploitation, mistreatment of immigrants and modern-day slavery. (See the press release from the WCRC on the protest)

• Here are photos and story from Naples Daily News - "Farmworkers target Publix in protest over wages and working conditions"
• Here are photos and videos from the Coalition's recent "Do the right thing tour!"
• Find out how to act in support in the farm workers' Campaign for Fair Food

During our "immersion" day with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, we heard the history of the CIW and the farm workers' struggle and amazing organizing to claim their rights and dignity. We walked through the town seeing the ridiculously-expensive RVs that many of the farm workers rent on a weekly basis. And we saw the solidarity and service center Mision Peniel.

Mision Peniel is one of three ministries of Beth-El, which assists farm workers in Immokalee in their efforts to achieve greater self-sufficiency. It provides opportunities to worship, educational programs and many services needed given the lack of services and opportunites offered by the government. The Mision provides food, men’s clothing & shoes and hygiene items as well as a hot meal on Friday. Pastor Miguel Estrada, an ordained Presbyterian pastor from Guatamala, has been the director of the Mision since 2007.

Food sovereignty for us dummies

“The day that hunger is eradicated from the Earth there will be the greatest spiritual explosion the world has ever known.  Humanity cannot imagine the joy that will burst into the world on the day of that great revolution.”  (Federico Garcia Lorca)

If you have heard the term - FOOD SOVEREIGNTY - and not known what the hay it is (or how to spell it!), take heart because you are not alone.

Luckily, our friends at Grassroots International and the National Family Farm Coalition have come to the rescue. Now you can hear U.S. and international family farmers talk about what food sovereignty is to them - simply! And concisely!!

And you can read it in your mother tongue, if that happens to be English, Spanish or Portugese. (French is coming soon)

Food Sovereignty for all!

• Bring justice and sustainability to our food system
• Localize control and create resilient, regional food chains
• Democratize decisions over what is grown and who gets to eat

All people have the right to decide what they eat and to ensure that food in their community is healthy and accessible for everyone.

“Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8)