Roummane

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Measuring resilience

IRIN (Jan. 16)

"The idea is that this concept could complement the early warning systems (EWS) approach. The EWS tries to predict crises, while the resilience framework tries to assess the current state of health of a food system and hence its ability to withstand shocks should they occur," said the paper."

Monday, March 23, 2009

Biofuels and hunger

Oil&Gas Journal (March 20):

"According to the OFID study, under current biofuel targets in different countries like the US, the European Union, China, and South Africa, an additional 140 million people will face hunger by 2020. At least 150-240 million tons/year of cereal crops would be required for first generation biofuels and 30 million hectares of land would need to be set aside for production. "

Japanese agrarian immigrants

Mariko Asano Tamanoi, “Victims of Colonialism? Japanese Agrarian Settlers and Their Repatriation to Japan” The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 6-1-09, February 2, 2009.

"Manchukuo is the state that Japan created in Northeast China (Manchuria) in 1932 to serve its interests. To populate this vast overseas empire with Japanese, the government sent approximately 380,000 farmers and their families as “agrarian immigrants (nōgyō imin).” Many of them were victims of the depression at home. By participating in the construction of Manchukuo, they joined the circle of “colonizers”: they received large tracts of land which the Japanese military had confiscated from Chinese farmers. Their life as settlers, however, was by no means easy. Many did not know what to plant or how to till the land. When they hired Chinese agricultural laborers,” many tensions arose. The settlers’ relations with more than six hundred thousand Korean rice-cultivating farmers, who also settled in Manchuria in the 1930s, were also fraught."

Boston food public market

Boston Globe (Feb. 21):

"The market would be opened in a vacant building that occupies a full city block near Haymarket, an area of old cobblestone alleys where city officials want to create an expansive year-round shopping district with dozens of local growers, bakers, seafood merchants, and other businesses."

"Local farms and agricultural businesses have long sought a daily market because of the expense and complication of traveling to Boston to participate in weekend farm stands. Massachusetts farms rely on local markets because of the lack of major agricultural distributors in the state to buy and sell their products.

Eat your seasons- Massachusetts

Massachusetts crop availability guide (From MDAR and NRDC Eat Local (MA)):

Time of Year	Fresh Produce
June (early)	Beets, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Cucumber, Greens, Lettuce, Peas, Peppers, Radishes, Scallions, Spinach
June (late)	Beets, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Cucumber, Greens, Lettuce, Peas, Peppers, Radishes, Scallions, Spinach
July (early)	Beans, Beets, Blueberries, Cabbage, Carrots , Cauliflower, Cucumber, Greens, Lettuce, Onions , Peas, Peppers, Potatoes, Radishes, Scallions, Spinach, Strawberries , Summer squash
July (late)	Beans, Beets, Blueberries, Cabbage, Carrots , Cauliflower, Cucumber, Greens, Lettuce, Onions , Peas, Peppers, Potatoes, Radishes, Scallions, Spinach, Strawberries , Summer squash
August (early)	Apples, Beans, Beets, Blueberries, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cantaloupes, Carrots , Cauliflower, Celery, Corn , Cucumber, Eggplant, Lettuce, Onions , Peaches, Peas, Peppers, Potatoes, Radishes, Raspberries, Scallions, Spinach, Summer squash, Tomatoes, Turnips, Watermelon
August (late)	Apples, Beans, Beets, Blueberries, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cantaloupes, Carrots , Cauliflower, Celery, Corn , Cucumber, Eggplant, Lettuce, Onions , Peaches, Peas, Peppers, Potatoes, Radishes, Raspberries, Scallions, Spinach, Summer squash, Tomatoes, Turnips, Watermelon
September (early)	Apples, Beets, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots , Cauliflower, Celery, Corn , Cranberries, Eggplant, Lettuce, Onions , Peaches, Peas, Peppers, Potatoes, Pumpkin, Radishes, Raspberries, Scallions, Spinach, Summer squash, Tomatoes, Turnips, Watermelon, Winter Squash
September (late)	Apples, Beets, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots , Cauliflower, Celery, Corn , Cranberries, Eggplant, Lettuce, Onions , Peaches, Peas, Peppers, Potatoes, Pumpkin, Radishes, Raspberries, Scallions, Spinach, Summer squash, Tomatoes, Turnips, Watermelon, Winter Squash
October (early)	Apples, Cabbage, Cranberries, Lettuce, Onions , Potatoes, Pumpkin, Turnips, Winter Squash
October (late)	Apples, Cabbage, Cranberries, Lettuce, Onions , Potatoes, Pumpkin, Turnips, Winter Squash

RI food stamps

Forbes (March 23):

"The extra allocation, ranging from $2 to $24 a month, comes from the federal stimulus plan.
Enrollment in the state's food stamp program is up almost 20 percent since last year. Nearly 100,000 Rhode Islanders are now receiving the benefit."

Sunday, March 22, 2009

MA food services

Boston Herald (March 21):

"More than $300 million in federal money will be used to increase benefits for Massachusetts participants of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly know as Food Stamps. On average, households will receive about an 18 percent increase. Nearly 600,000 people in the state use the program to buy food."

Eat real food

The New York Times (March 21):

"And the truth is that most Americans eat so badly — we get 7 percent of our calories from soft drinks, more than we do from vegetables; the top food group by caloric intake is “sweets”; and one-third of nation’s adults are now obese — that the organic question is a secondary one. It’s not unimportant, but it’s not the primary issue in the way Americans eat. To eat well, says Michael Pollan, the author of “In Defense of Food,” means avoiding “edible food-like substances” and sticking to real ingredients, increasingly from the plant kingdom."

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Hunger in India

The Sunday Morning Herald (March 21):

"But India is also home to a quarter of the world's hungry - about 230 million people - according to a World Food Program report released last month. More than 455 million Indians survive on $US1.25 a day or less, compared with 420 million in 1981."
"Prakash believes the crisis in Madhya Pradesh has deep roots. During the 1970s local people switched from growing traditional crops to cash crops such as soya beans and cotton."

Boston legal sea foods saga

Boston Globe (March 20):

"Get ready, Green Line riders. The foul-mouthed fish are back. After months of negotiations, Legal Sea Foods said it has received approval from the MBTA for a new series in its "Fresh Fish" ad campaign.
The new insults include zingers such as: "Kiss my bass;" "If that's your girlfriend, I'd throw her back;" and "Darn, you smell like carp.""

Obama's food system

AlterNet (March 20):

"The budget also increases funding for the National Organic Program, and removes direct payment subsidies for farms that pull in over $500,000 in revenue per year. This reduction in subsidies represents an important shift away from a commodities-based agriculture system where certain crops (namely corn and soy) permeate our food supply and serve as the primary ingredient in everything we eat, from processed snack foods to meat and cheese."

Friday, March 20, 2009

Iraq marchland livelihoods

IRIN (March 16):

"..the Iraqi government and a number of UN agencies launched a $47 million initiative to remove dykes and canals built by the regime of former President Saddam Hussein so that water can flow back into marshland areas. "

US food aid policy

IRIN (March 4):

"At present, American legislation requires that 50 percent of commodities be processed and packed in the US before shipment, and that 75 percent of food aid managed by USAID and 50 percent of the food aid managed by the US Department of Agriculture be transported in "flag-carrying" US-registered vessels."

Sustainability myths

Scientific American (March 2009):

"You cannot really declare any practice “sustainable” until you have done a complete life-cycle analysis of its environmental costs. Even then, technology and public policy keep evolving, and that evolution can lead to unforeseen and unintended consequences. The admirable goal of living sustainably requires plenty of thought on an ongoing basis."

Thursday, March 19, 2009

From the Center for Science in the Public Interest:

This is a quick check-list to show how your diet scores on nutrition, the environment, and animal welfare. Calculate you score.

"Scores are affected by such considerations as:

Health: saturated fat, cholesterol, dietary fiber, etc.
Environment: air and water pollution from manure, cattle belching, production and overuse of fertilizer, and pesticides; etc.
Animal welfare: castration, hot-iron branding, debeaking, detailing, cramped cages and feedlots, cattle feed high in grain, and inhumane shipping and slaughterhouse practices."

Food now!

From the Feral Scholar (March 18):

"Hunger is not inevitable. Factory farming is not inevitable. Low-quality, tasteless, contaminated food is not inevitable. Repeated “food scares” are not inevitable. Soaring public health costs are not inevitable. Another and better food system is eminently possible — now, not ten years from now or after some promised, imaginary “scientific breakthrough”. It is possible right now, today — in our own backyard(s).
What are we waiting for?"

Land grab

Electronic Intifada (March 17):

"Reflecting on what will happen if the remaining part of her family is turned into internally displaced refugees, Fatima explained, "If they destroy our houses they will destroy our crops and our ability to make food. If we cannot plant food any longer, what will happen to our livelihood?

To be sure, this latest phase in the ethnic cleansing of Aqraba is not unique to the West Bank nor to the part of historic Palestine that is now considered Israel. This week saw the destruction of two Palestinian homes and 100 olive trees in the Negev town of Beer Seba, now given the Hebraized name of Beersheva. In the West Bank, from Qalqiliya to Hebron to East Jerusalem, families await the status of the orders for their homes to be demolished. But while there is a great deal of attention paid to the impending destruction of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, there is little if any media attention or support for families in small villages like Aqraba."

The struggles for clean water

Electronic Intifada (March 18):

"The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says 150,000 Gazans still remain affected by inadequate and unsafe water supply. Of these, about 50,000 remain without any water while the remainder receive water only every five to six days.
Recent water tests indicate that piped water in Gaza is not safe for human consumption. Forty-five of 248 water samples tested were found to be contaminated, primarily in the North Gaza and Gaza City districts.
Israel shelled Gaza's biggest wastewater treatment plant in Sheikh Ajleen, south-east of Gaza City, which usually treats raw sewage from approximately 400,000 people. The torrent of raw, untreated sewage flowing into residential areas, agricultural land and the sea was visible from outer space, according to satellite images released by the UN."