Good Food for All

Weekly Digest: President Obama Signs Child Nutrition Re-Authorization Act

This week's digest is cross-posted at ChicagoReGen.com. 

• This week, President Obama signed the Child Nutrition Re-Authorization Act into law.  The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 will authorize funding for child nutrition programs and aims to increase access to healthy food for low-income children nationwide.   

• Increasing numbers of private investors are looking for ways to support local food systems. 

• Chicago Garden highlights a number of local food products for the holiday season that support social enterprise ventures.  

• Door to Door Organics is partnering with Goodness Greeness to provide an organic and local food products delivery service in Chicago.  

• Chicago Food Policy Advisory Council and Advocates for Urban Agriculture are actively focusing on Chicago's zoning ordinance proposals for urban agriculture.  Click here to view the ordinance. 

 

Daily Digest: Illinois' Healthiest Counties, Farmers Market Forums, and Healthy Food Financing Initiative

The Obama Administration released more details on the Healthy Food Financing Initiative. 

Register here for an upcoming Farmers Market Forum in Carter, Rockford, Urbana, or Chicago, IL.  

View the new members of the Illinois Local Food, Farms, and Jobs Council.  The first meeting of the council will take place on Wednesday, March 3rd in Springfield, IL. 

Healthy Youth Partnership in St. Louis is organizing a Regional Food Summit next week.  

Chicago aldermen are proposing a ban on foam food containers in Chicago Public Schools. 

Suburban and small farming areas rank as some of Illinois' healthiest counties, according to a new report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 

A new resolution in the Illinois General Assembly would create an identification system for sensitive crops in order to reduce chemical drift.  

Link to: 

Sustainable Food Jobs & Opportunities 

Daily Digest: Urban Agriculture in Detroit, Kitchen Chicago and Mobile Gardens

Small business owners in Chicago have mixed reactions to SBA loans provided under the federal stimulus program. 

"The Mike Nowak Show" dedicated this past Sunday's show to talk about the health inspections at Kitchen Chicago, an incubator for small food businesses.  Watch the video of the inspections here. 

OrganicNation.TV profiles a Chicago aquaponics operation, near Bridgeport.

Detroit urban planners are helping rewrite zoning regulations to allow for more urban gardens. 

Advocates for Urban Agriculture, a coalition of organizations and individuals advocating for urban agriculture in Chicago, is sponsoring a logo competition. Entries are due by March 15, 2010.  Visit the AUA website for more information. 

A mobile garden project with CTA is currently under development. 

In relation to the Let's Move campaign, New York Times columnist Mark Bittman asks,  is soda is the new tobacco? 

Photo credit: New York Times  

Daily Digest: UIC Chicago Neighborhoods Initiative Announces Opportunities for Seven Communities

UIC Chicago Neighborhoods Initiative (UICNI) plans to launch the ChiWest ResourceNet (CWRN), a targeted capacity building initiative for seven Chicago communities.  A Bidders Conference will take place on Feb. 16, 2010.  Click here to read the full RFP.  

The Atlantic investigates Walmart's Heritage Agriculture program and its commitment to sourcing local and organic foods. 

Read more about the background of Let's Move, which will include collaboration with government departments and forming partnerships with both the private and non-profit sectors.  

Funds are available for current and transitioning organic farmers. Sign-up is open until March 12, 2010. 

Logan Square Kitchen, a sustainable kitchen and event space, will host a Pastry Market this Saturday, Feb. 13. 

To watch a re-cap of the Slow Food Chicago Annual Meeting, you can watch the video here. 

Slow Food Chicago's 2010 Annual Meeting from Ryan Kimura on Vimeo.

Link to: 

Sustainable Food Jobs & Opportunities

Daily Digest: First Lady's "Let's Move" Campaign and Food Statistics Mapping Tool

The Chicago Tribune announced its 2010 Good Eating Awards. Winners include Sweet Miss Giving's Bakery, Frontera Foods, and Kitchen Chicago. 

Economic Research Service has a new online "Food Atlas", a mapping tool which assembles statistics on food environments and diet-related disease rates. 

Let's Move is a new national campaign to promote healthy eating and physical activity for children. Watch First Lady Michelle Obama's remarks on the epidemic of childhood obesity.  Click here for more background on the campaign. 

Link to: 

Sustainable Food Jobs & Opportunities

Daily Digest: Let's Move, Sustainable Farms and Health Inspections at Local Food Businesses

Chicago Public Radio provides more information about last week's health inspections at Kitchen Chicago.  Monica Eng, food industry writer for the Chicago Tribune, speaks to WBEZ about the impact on local food businesses. 

Listen to another WBEZ radio feature with Terra Brockman, founder of The Land Connection, who talks about the evolution of farming in Illinois and the need for sustainable agricultural practices.  

At the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's Annual Meeting in Chicago last week, researchers reported findings that link the use of the agricultural chemical atrazine to birth defects. 

On Monday, First Lady Michelle Obama helped launch Let's Move, a new campaign to combat childhood obesity.  The initiative will focus on improving access to information on healthy choices for parents, improving the quality of school food, improving access to affordable and healthy foods, and increasing physical activity for children.  Watch the video announcement here. 

Daily Digest: Chicago Health Department Throws Out Local Fruit Used in Communal Kitchen

Due to licensing discrepancies, the Chicago Health Department destroyed local fruit used by small business owners at Kitchen Chicago, a shared community kitchen.  

Beyond USDA, government agencies can play a significant role in supporting local food systems. Read the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's full report.  

Out of 26.8 million acres of farmland in Illinois, only 0.1% is devoted to organic production. 

Angelic Organics Learning Center is organizing season extension, bee keeping, and backyard chicken workshops in the coming months.  Register here. 

According to a 2009 Gallup poll, 17.2% of Illinois households are food insecure. 

USDA will initiate a series of reforms to improve school lunch safety standards. 

 In addition to the $50 million allocated for USDA and the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, there will be $250 million in the 2011 budget for the Treasury Department's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund "to expand financing for access to healthy foods."

(Photo credit: Fed Up: School Lunch Project) 

Daily Digest: St. Louis Food Summit, Sam Kass on The Today Show, and Illinois Obesity Prevention Hearings

USDA reports that fewer than 1% of American farms are organic. 

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is holding three obesity prevention hearings this month. The hearing in Chicago will take place on Feb. 26, from 1-4 p.m. at 160 N. LaSalle.  IDPH is seeking public testimony.  More info here. 

Healthy Youth Partnership is organizing a Food Summit at St. Louis University on March 4. Details here. 

The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development is requesting briefs and papers on best practices in urban and peri-urban agriculture. 

White House Food Initiative Coordinator and Assistant Chef Sam Kass appeared on The Today Show to talk about First Lady Michelle Obama's upcoming childhood obesity prevention campaign.  Click here to watch the video. 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Link to: 

Sustainable Food Jobs & Opportunities

Daily Digest: Chicago Food Policy Summit, French Market, and National Fresh Food Financing Initiative

Tickets for the upcoming 5th Annual Chicago Food Policy Advisory Council (CFPAC) Summit are now available for purchase online.  The FamilyFarmed EXPO and the CFPAC Summit will take place March 11-13, 2010. 

The President's proposed 2011 budget will include funds for the National Fresh Food Financing Initiative. In addition, farm subsidies would be reduced and $10 billion would be allocated for nutrition programs. 

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is reducing the budget for the Meat and Poultry Inspection Program by 50%, which will result in fewer state meat inspectors at small slaughterhouses. 

Chicago's newly opened French Market at Ogilvie Transportation Center is adding four new vendors. 

Link to: 

Sustainable Food Jobs & Opportunities

Daily Digest: Policy Updates, Reducing Childhood Obesity, and New Local Food Jobs

Healthy Schools Campaign details the potential benefits of The Children's Fruit and Vegetable Act of 2009. 

At the United Conference of Mayors, First Lady Michelle Obama spoke about her upcoming campaign to stop the rise of childhood obesity.  

Civil Eats provides a comprehensive resource list for starting school gardens, highlighting an elementary school in Gages Lake, IL. 

Stay connected to food policy, urban agriculture, backyard chickens, and/or community gardens in the Chicago area by subscribing via email for updates (click on each of the links). 

New job postings and opportunities in sustainable food and urban farming are available for download at Good Food for All.