by Caroline Hodge

Last Sunday, we held our quarterly Eat-In Potluck Brunch on the lawn in front of Mars. Highlights of the brunch included kale-cranberry salad (made by Synergy), quinoa rice pudding (made by Columbae) and fresh guacamole (made by Mars). Amanda Martinez of Crothers also made a delicious scramble with some delectable eggs from our very own chickens at the Stanford Educational Farm and cheese from Cowgirl Creamery. We also had a food-themed canvas up for people to paint on, which will be displayed at an arts festival later this quarter, Art After Dark.

For the first time, our Eat-In had a political bent. We’ve been talking as a group recently about how the food movement needs to be more political. In some ways the fact that the food movement has been somewhat apolitical is a good thing–it means that people are less scared by it and more likely to get involved. But as I’ve learned more about the food movement it seems that a lot of the more major obstacles are contingent on political action. We decided to focus on the Farm Bill at the Eat-In, an enormous piece of legislation renewed every five years which dictates everything from farm subsidies to nutritional assistance programs (SNAP) to crop insurance to school lunch. Unfortunately, the Bill receives very little media attention, and moreover, very little of the Bill supports the kind of food system we would like to see. This year’s version also is at risk for major cuts in farm conservation programs, which are essential for ensuring the environmental sustainability of our food system.

Last week we were lucky enough to have a conversation with environmental policy expert Kari Hamerschlag of the Environmental Working Group (EWG). When we asked her how we could best use our voices to support better food on the Farm Bill, she suggested contacting Representative Anna Eshoo and thanking her for her support of the Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act. The Act includes a comprehensive package of cost-effective policy reforms that aim to make fresh, healthy and affordable food – especially fruits and vegetables – more accessible to the American public.

Because it was a Sunday, we were only able to leave messages for Congresswoman Eshoo and weren’t able to talk with any of the Congresswoman’s staff. Still, it felt great helping my peers to become more politically involved, even if it was on a somewhat superficial level. It’s such a simple thing to make a phone call to your congresspeople about an issue you care about, yet my impression is that Stanford students don’t do it very often. Even though encouraging them to call Rep. Eshoo at the Eat-In was a very small step, I hope that doing so helped them to realize how easy, rewarding, and important it is to take political action, especially in the context of the sustainable food and farming movement.

A big thank you to Mars and Leslie Chang for so generously letting us use their space for this event. And thank you also to Kari Hamerschlag for enlightening us on the intricacies of the Farm Bill and its implications for our food system.

For more about the Local Farms Food and Jobs Act: http://www.ewg.org/local-farms-food-and-jobs-act

For more about the Farm Bill in general: http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2011/06/top-10-things-you-should-know-about-the-farm-bill/

On Wednesday night, Kari Hamerschlag from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) came to talk and share dinner with a group of about 20 food and environmental activists from across campus.  Kari talked to us about the current politics around the farm bill, discussing topics ranging from why the food movement is so often non-political, to specifics of the current farm bill negotiations.  Her talk was incredibly informative, and left me with the following key concepts:

*One way to really make change is to call your local representatives.  Thank them if the have supported any sustainable, healthy food bill/programs and encourage them to fight for the inclusion of sustainable, healthy food programs in the upcoming farm bill.

*It looks like things are only going to get worse in the coming years as the current generation retires and large corporations continue to be eager to buy up any farmland on the market.  This increasing conglomeration of farmland is a huge danger to the sustainable food movement.

*A huge portion of the farm bill (70%) actually goes to nutrition (mainly food stamp) programs.

*The direct payment subsidies that make up a large portion of the remaining part of the farm bill were developed in the mid 90s and were meant to be temporary and phased out after a few years.  However, were never phased out and consequently many industrial ag farmers are receiving large sums of (arguably) undeserved and unfair subsidy money.

*The farm bill is negotiated entirely within the house and senate ag committees.  However, this year the senate ag committee is lead by a woman from Maine who is truly interested in sustainable, nutritious food.  This is something very rare (normally the committees are dominated by states from the mid-west with industrial ag interests) and something to be hopeful about.

-Brittany Rymer