Is there a connection between peace and justice issues, on the one hand, and, on the other, issues around sustainable agriculture, food, nutrition, and health? One of the discussion directions taken by the LEPOCO study group that met last Fall (see the September and December 2001 LEPOCO newsletters) touched on that question. For good reason. Several articles in the anthology we worked our way through (Guns, Globalization, and Greed: A Guide to the New World Economy, edited by Christopher Ney, published in 2001 by the War Resisters League) dealt with that question either directly or indirectly. [I¹ll be numbering and giving contact info for all organizations as they come up. For starters: 1) LEPOCO (lepoco@postmark.net; www.lepoco.org); (2) War Resisters League (www.warresisters.org)]

Bob Randall¹s article, ³The International Food Trade & Community Gardens² dealt with the issue head-on. Also of relevance Christopher Ney¹s ³Greed and War: The Links Between Militarism and Globalization² and Chuck Matthei and Joanne Sheehan¹s ³Toward a Nonviolent Economics.² The focus of all of these articles was on the peace and justice (P&J) side of the equation. There¹s also a lot to be found on the sustainable agriculture, food, nutrition, and health (SAƒH) side of the equation. As I¹ve been finding out.

Bob Randall¹s article is a good example of a ³think globally, act locally² piece. The connection between P&J and SAƒH is presented clearly. On the P&J side are issues typical of globalization. ³...small farmers, agribusinesses, and field workers in poor nations...produce food for the international market at labor prices low enough to make the food still cheap after it is shipped to the wealthy ones.² With the IMF¹s assistance, a system is produced in which ³the very poor in poor nations work long hours at very low wages to produce poor quality food for the world¹s wealthy,² leaving little land for local subsistence needs, using environmentally destructive production technologies, and generating anger and violence: ³much of the endemic violence in poor nations is closely related to this system...²

On the SAƒH side, ³food is largely a product of long-distance national and international markets² with ³very little oversight as to how it is produced, shipped, or distributed.² The problems for us are: poor quality foods (they¹re inadequate for maintaining health) with characteristics suitable for withstanding shipping (³the average mouthful of food in the United States travels 1,300 miles²), that look fresh long after picking (they need ³to have a long shelf life²), and that are doctored with sugars and chemically-produced fats and oils to make these sad excuses for food appealing to our taste buds, resulting in ³heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.²

It¹s ironic, isn¹t it, that Western commerce has taken literally that utterance alleged to have been made by Marie Antoinette in the face of the people¹s demand for bread. But the ³displacing foods² of Western commerce, as Weston A. Price called them, that displaced the healthy foods of traditional diets around the world, consisted especially of sugar and white flour, the basic ingredients of cake, like the whole host of junk food packaged sweets that students in our school cafeterias lunch on.

So now, how do we resist? This is where Bob Randall gets to write about eating locally. Use of locally grown food helps reduce dependence on the unhealthy, immoral global system and provides a healthful alternative: foods that are actually fresh and (if grown organically) not contaminated by chemicals and (if from minerally-rich soils) that are nutritious and support good health. Randall discusses two ways of involving people in the local production of good food. The one he spends more time on is the Community Garden. Such can be started by any group on public land. Community Gardens would provide a place to teach gardening, nutritious food for the needy, a place to work, and a sense of community. He also notes that a second approach, for people who want to garden on their own land, is the community gardening club. Home gardeners can ³join with other such home gardeners to form a community gardening club with monthly educational meetings at each others¹ gardens.² The club approach is one that the (3) Lehigh Valley Greens (SCKND80@aol.com) is setting up as their ³Victory Garden² project, the name harking back to efforts during World War II to have people produce their own veggies during times when it was difficult to get food from farms.

There are many more approaches to getting to healthful local food. And many organizations, farmers, and communities working on them. I¹ve only begun to learn about them. A major concern is that of supporting local, sustainable agriculture. That may mean supporting family farms (as opposed to agribusinesses, factory farms, large-scale industrial farms), helping to enable farmers to maintain good soils, grow chemically-untainted vegetables and fruits, raise livestock on good pasturage, carry out health-wise processing (fermentation, cleanliness without nutrition-robbing pasteurization, etc.), and establishing means for the consumer to get the local produce. Some such means include CSAs (community supported agriculture, wherein 70 to 100 families make contractual arrangements with a local organic farmer), farmers¹ markets, supermarkets with local produce sections, and community organizations that organize to access such foods, from food coops to food managers of school cafeterias.

This brings up the point raised by both Ney and Matthei/Sheehan, that positive programs are needed. Ney wrote: “While the protests against corporate-dominated globalization have used nonviolence to great effect as a conscious-raising tool, the traditions of nonviolence may also be the source of some of the solutions to the current problem of global greed and exploitation. During the Indian struggle for independence, Gandhi emphasized that his approach to nonviolence was 10 percent protest and 90 percent positive program. ... formal political freedom meant nothing to the majority of Indians whose basic economic needs were unmet. Gandhi¹s positive program included economic development based on India¹s village system and involved low-technology production, local control, and self-sufficiency. ... While it may stretch the imagination to apply principles that were developed for a rural agrarian society to more complex industrial societies, exploration of alternatives to the dominant economic orthodoxy - alternatives based on nonviolent economics - may well become a fertile field for peace and social justice activists in the years ahead.”

Well, people working for sustainable agriculture have been stretching their imaginations! When people in the SAƒH movement talk of low-technology organic production, local control, and self-sufficiency, they¹re serious. But instead of villages, people are talking about regional foodsheds in which local family farms are connected to the urban folks in the urban centers. To get some sense of the tremendous activity going on in this arena, here are a few organizations that I have some first-hand knowledge of and which I think are worth checking out:

4) PASA, Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (info@pasafarming.org; www.pasafarming.org) The PASA Mission: ³promoting profitable farms which produce healthy food for all people while respecting the natural environment.² They sponsor workshops and pasture walks, develop regional projects (currently with Rodale Institute and others focussing on SE PA), publish Passages: Sustainable Food and Farming Systems, a quarterly newsletter, and have a wonderful, informative, regenerating annual conference. Janet Goloub and I went to last year¹s (see the March 2001 LEPOCO newsletter). And we¹ll be going to this year¹s 11th annual Farming for the Future Conference (2/8-2/9/02, State College, PA). It¹s entitled: ³Healthy Farms, Healthy Communities: Our Link To A Sustainable Future.² In the informational brochure about the conference, Brian Snyder, Executive Director, writes: “Together we nurture a vision, not of how life once was, but of how it will one day be when the challenges of globalization and limitations of technology are better understood, and the promise of properly-scaled, healthful communities are rightfully acknowledged as our society¹s principal means of defense.

5) Weston A. Price Foundation (WestonAPrice@MSN.com; www.WestonAPrice.org) is ³dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the American diet through education, research and activism and supports a number of movements that contribute to this objective, including accurate nutrition instruction, organic and biodynamic farming, pasture feeding of livestock, community supported farms, honest and informative labeling, prepared parenting and nurturing therapies.² Its approach is an outgrowth of the work ³of nutrition pioneer Weston A. Price, DDS, whose studies of isolated nonindustrialized peoples established the optimum parameters of human health and determined the optimum characteristics of human diets.² Publishes Wise Traditions In Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, a quarterly, and holds an annual meeting. Has 83 local chapters, mostly in the U.S., some in Canada and Australia. I¹m a member of the local chapter here: 6) Eastern PA Chapter (contact Dr. Alan J Stangl, ajstangl@worldnet.att.net). One of our long-range concerns is to develop a regional ³foodshed² (regional food system).

7) CFSC, Community Food Security Coalition (cfsc@foodsecurity.org; www.foodsecurity.org) is a: North American organization of social and economic justice, environmental, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, community development, labor, and anti-poverty and anti-hunger groups. [It has] 265 organizational members in 41 states and the District of Columbia. [It is] dedicated to building strong, sustainable, local and regional food systems that ensure access to affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food to all people at all times. [It seeks] to develop self-reliance among all communities in obtaining their food and to create a system of growing, manufacturing, processing, making available, and selling food that is regionally based and grounded in the principles of justice, democracy, and sustainability. It has various programs that involve training, networking, advocacy. I learned about it when I attended ³From Farm to School Cafeteria: partnerships for Supporting Farms, Improving Health, and Building Community,² a conference, co-sponsored by CFSC and eight other organizations, held at Cornell University, NY, December 9-10, 2001. Two of their projects aim to connect school (K-12) and college food services, respectively, with local farmers (Kristen Markley is Farm-to-College Program Manager, kristen@foodsecurity.org; Marion Kalb, Farm to School Director, marion@foodsecurity.org). They¹ve published a 62-page report, Healthy Farms, Healthy Kids: Evaluating the Barriers and Opportunities for Farm-to-School Programs (I have a copy of it, if you¹d like to check it out). I heard a good presentation, at the conference, on community organizing. Hank Herrera (HRHerrera@nena10.com), a representative of:

 8) NENA Northeast Neighborhood Alliance, in Rochester NY (www.nena10.com), one of CFSC¹s member organizations, spoke about the grass-roots work done in organizing the poorest neighborhood in Rochester to deal with its food needs. Another of CFSC¹s member organizations is:

9) the Hartford Food System (in Connecticut: www.hartfordfood.com). In 2000 it had a budget of over $400,000.

10) NCSA, National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture (campaign@sustainableagriculture.net; www.SustainableAgriculture.net) is working toward ³a socially just, environmentally sound, and humane food system which is friendly to farm families and their communities.² It issues alerts for grass-roots action, publishes Update (a newsletter), has an annual conference. It has five SAWGs, Sustainable Agriculture Working Groups, around the country. I heard some of the group¹s staff speak at the PASA conference last year. I also received, and helped to pass on, their alerts and valuable info about the Farm Bill debates last Fall.

There are many more organizations. Some I know about include:

11) Acres (www.acresusa.com), which publishes Acres: A Voice For Eco-Agriculture (a newspaper packed with eco-farming info), is a source of relevant books and tapes, and it disseminates important info also through its annual conference;

12) American Farmland Trust (wwws. Some I know about include: .farmland.org) works toward farmland conservation and the development of sustainable farming practices, does legislative, advocacy and educational work, publishes a quarterly;

 13) Cornell University¹s Agriculture, Food and Community Partnership (www.cals.cornell.edu/agfoodcommunity) includes the work of the Farming Alternatives Program (of the Department of Rural Sociology), Community Food Systems and Small Farms programs, publishes Farming Alternatives, which covers ³issues, events, and research related to sustainable agriculture and food systems,² and was one of the co-sponsors of the Farm To School Cafeteria conference;

 14) Farmers¹ Market Trust (215-568-0830) is a Philadelphia organization whose ³goal is to create student-managed food markets in schools to empower urban students, improve their diets, concentration and health, build their self-esteem, equip them with employable skills, and educate them about ecology, business, conservation and nutrition²;

 15) The Green Valley Coalition of the Lehigh Valley (www.creativewaves.com) is a citizen¹s group dedicated to land use education and reform, held a conference on ³Sprawl Solutions² last May;

16) Just Food¹s (info@justfood.org; www.justfood.org) Community Supported Agriculture in NYC seeks ³to connect NYC to stable, quality food sources,² its ³The City Farms¹ Grow More Food in 2002 Campaign² is to ³raise awareness of food needs and opportunities, to provide training, and to encourage more food growing in community gardens,² noting that ³urban gardens have great potential to be a primary source of food and food security today, as were the Victory Gardens of the 1940s² and that ³there are more than 700 community gardens in NYC - most started by people living in low-income neighborhoods²;

 17) The Lehigh Valley Green Future Fund (contact Tom Kerr at the Wildlands Conservancy at 610-966-6437) is working to put referenda on the ballot in Lehigh (already set) and Northampton Counties to provide $120 million to expand their ³ green infrastructure¹ - [their] parks, trails, and green spaces,² including farmland preservation;

 18) Northeast Organic Farmers Association-of New Jersey (nofanj@aol.com; www.nofanj.org)/ -of New York (nofany@juno.com; http://ny.nofa.org) are interested in maintaining a healthy food source, preserving farmland, and providing a cleaner environment, they have newsletters, annual meetings, there¹s a quarterly newspaper for the seven-chapter NOFA organization, have lists of certified organic farms;

19) The Politics of Food (716-232-1463) is the urban sponsor of the Genesee Valley Organic Community Supported Agriculture, is sponsor of Rochester Roots which uses community school gardens to integrate culture and environmental history into the curriculum, and supports the work of the Fundacíon Marcos Orozco (in honor of Kai¹yutah, an agronomist from upstate New York who was kidnapped and later killed by a Guatemalan death squad in 1980 while teaching soil, water and organic agriculture), FUNDAMARCOS being a Guatemalan organization whose mission is to promote peace, the Mayan cultural heritage, sustainable development, and preservation of the environment;

20) Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation (www.price-pottenger.org), a source of books and tapes on nutrition and health;

21) Pennsylvania Certified Organic (PaOrganic@aol.com) whose goal is ³to assure the integrity of organic agricultural products through education, inspection, and certification of growers, processors and handlers in Pennsylvania,² carries out activities in support of those goals, publishes a newsletter, holds annual meeting;

 22) Pennsylvania Farm Link (pafarmlink@redrose.net) ³is a non-profit organization dedicated to the mission of Œcreating farming opportunities for the next generation¹ [and] is governed by a diverse Board ... from [seventeen] agricultural organizations² including American Farmland Trust, PASA, PA Department of Education, and The Wildlands Conservancy;

 23) the somewhat conservative, I suspect, Pennsylvania Farmers Union (717-436-9330) ³a grassroots organization dedicated to preserving the family farm and promoting rural economic growth... leading the fight for fair trade ... [and] new and better markets for our products ... supporting ... conservation programs ... fighting for fair, reasonable, and equitable environmental regulations for our family farm producers²;

 24) our area¹s Rodale Institute (info@rodaleinst.org; www.rodaleinstitute.org), which ³works worldwide to achieve a regenerative food system that improves environmental and human health,² which ³believe[s] that there is a direct link between healthy soil, healthy food and healthy people,² and which has an experimental farm here in the Lehigh Valley; and

 25) listings in the Gardening/Farming section of Co-op America¹s (www.coopamerica.org) National Green Pages.

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