Coby Gould is the executive director of the GrowHaus, an indoor urban farm and education center in Denver’s Elyria-Swansea neighborhood. Gould will participate in a panel discussion, “Where Law Shapes Behaviors: The Farm Bill and Obesity Prevention,” at the Colorado Health Symposium.
What do a bag of Doritos and the obesity epidemic have in common with the farm bill?
To put it plainly, the farm bill -- the primary food policy tool for the federal government -- puts far too much emphasis on commodity crops (such as corn and wheat) and not nearly enough on fruits and vegetables.
Every year, the farm bill provides billions of dollars in subsidies to large agribusiness-producing crops. Many of those crops are then fed to animals, which supports the production of meat and dairy products. The government also purchases surplus foods like cheese, milk, pork and beef for distribution to food assistance programs — including school lunches. Unfortunately, the government is not required to purchase nutritious foods. And many studies have correlated a direct link between over consumption of over-processed commodity crops and obesity.
Meanwhile, fruit and vegetable farmers receive less than 1 percent of government subsidies. In short, this policy makes food produced with commodity crops cheaper and more accessible than healthier fare. You can learn more about this phenomenon in this article which answers the question “Why does a salad cost more than a Big Mac?”
Fortunately, a growing number of nonprofit organizations, such as the GrowHaus, are working to address the problems associated with the nation’s food policy.
The GrowHaus is located Denver’s Elyria-Swansea neighborhood; an area considered a “food desert” with the closest grocery store a 2.5-mile trek across train tracks and highway. Next month, the GrowHaus will finish renovations on a 5,000-square-foot commercial hydroponics facility and market space. These improvements will allow us to produce nearly 1,800 heads of lettuce and other vegetables per week -- a number that may truly begin to have an impact on the amount of fresh local food available in the community.
Education also plays an important part of our mission.
As part of our summer youth program, students are asked to determine the fat, sugar and salt content per serving by measuring out the equivalent amounts using lard, table sugar and salt, respectively. We then compare these amounts to the recommended daily servings. The result is a very visual representation of how a seemingly simple bag of chips can be so unnatural and unhealthy. At the conclusion of class, one student, Andrea, approached not the least bit shyly and asked, “Is anyone going to eat those Doritos? Can I have them?”
A week after Andrea walked out of class with her bag of Doritos, the students performed a taste test of conventional tomatoes imported from Mexico and heirloom tomatoes grown in the GrowHaus. Taking a bite into the heirloom’s meaty flesh, she exclaimed with a slightly surprised look on her face, “I didn’t know tomatoes tasted like this. I actually like them!”
With the farm bill up for renewal, Congress faces issues about choice. It’s not that Andrea wants to eat unhealthy food, but she needs the choice. Tight on cash, surrounded by corner stores, and growing up in a culture of cheap food, her options are limited.
The GrowHaus is working to make that choice a little broader by growing, distributing, and educating about fresh healthy food where it’s most lacking. It’s an intriguing model, gaining momentum locally (see Mayor Hancock’s “Denver Seeds” program) and attracting attention nationally.
But in order to really make a dent, the healthy choice must be an affordable and available option for all.
To do this, the farm bill must support adequate funding for research and production of healthy fruits and vegetables, at least to the extent that it supports commodity crop production. It is a large task, but this is what it will take to really give Andrea the healthy choice. Because when she does have that choice, the tomato will speak for itself.
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