Speak Out For Healthy Farm Bill, Feb 13th, Midday, Civic Center BART

[Guest guest]

come to this event, I lot of the subsidized crops are made to feed cattle and

live stocks (MEAT)

sign, Sunny

===

 

a reminder about this important event tomorrow!

 

if you or anyone know you know can help videotape the event, please contact

Jess Bell immediately.

 

thanks, and please pass this announcement on!

 

currently, the farm bill gives a ton of money to commodity crop growers

(corn, wheat, soy, etc) and does not give a fair amount to those who grow

organic, specialty crops (fruits & veggies), etc. we want to change that,

and your presence tomorrow will help show that we want this change.

 

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Jess Bell <jessicambell

Feb 11, 2008 3:11 PM

Reminder: Valentine's Day Speak Out For Healthy Farm Bill, Feb

13th, Midday, Civic Center BART

Jess Bell <jessicambell

 

 

 

* Speak-Out and Eat-In For A Fair and Healthy

Farm Bill Now!** *

 

*Food Justice Activists Call on Speaker Pelosi and others to

Give Us A Food and Farm Bill We'll Love for Valentine's Day

Wednesday Feb. 13th, 12pm

@ Heart of the City Farmers' Market at UN Plaza *

 

 

This Valentine's Day Season, come join together with CFJC and other food

justice activists as we speak out on the farm bill. We'll be gathering to

call upon House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Representative Joe Baca and Dennis

Cardoza, who are likely to sit on the Farm Bill conference committee, to

pass a Fair and Healthy Food and Farm Bill as soon as possible that stops

subsidizing corporate agribusiness at the expense of public health and

invests our tax dollars into creating a sustainable, healthy,

community-driven and just food system!

 

*Speakers Include: *Bryant Terry, eco-chef, author, and Food and Society

Policy Fellow; the California Food and Justice Coalition; Shyaam Shabaka,

Founder and Director of the Eco-Village Farm Learning Center; Local Farmers;

Community Anti-Hunger Advocates; Peggy da Silva, Veritable Vegetable, the

oldest organic produce distributor in the U.S.; and representatives from San

Francisco's Alemany Farm.

 

We live in an era of global food insecurity and chronic hunger, where 800

million a day go hungry. Small farmers worldwide are struggling to survive

in a consolidated agricultural industry and poor communities in the United

States have little access to affordable, healthy food. Soil erosion, water

and air pollution and pesticides threaten our health and our farmland.

Congress has been working to rewrite the Farm Bill for nearly a year and

it's critical that we get a new Farm Bill as soon as possible that begins

to correct these elements of our broken food system.

 

The passage of the 2007 Farm Bill through Congress has been marked by

never-before-seen public demand for reform, which has compelled California's

legislators to begin to support critical commodity reform measures as and

increased investment in local food systems. In the final stages of this

campaign we must continue to draw attention our farm bill priorities and

concerns.

 

*SO MUCH IS STILL AT STAKE! *Our Representatives are cobbling together a

Farm Bill from the different House and Senate versions, and deciding how

much money to allocate to each program. Neither of these bills include

significant reform of commodity programs, but Speaker Pelosi has the

opportunity to use her power to negotiate for meaningful reforms that will

begin to transform the food system – like limiting subsidy payments to

people who are actually farming - right now wealthy urbanites in New York

City can get subsidy payments! We also need to ensure that our

representatives on the conference committee are making funding for vital

food and farm justice programs, like the Community Food Projects Grants

Program, which gives grants to small food justice organizations like the

Ecology Center, and the Minority Farm Outreach Program, which helps minority

farmers fairly access Federal farm programs, a priority in their

negotiations. Go to* " http://www.cafoodjustice.org *for more information on

how this Farm Bill affects you.

 

This event is an opportunity to listen to, connect with, learn from, and get

involved in important local programs and campaigns to improve the bay area's

food system. We encourage you to bring a friend and a hearty lunch that

reflects the kinds of foods you think our Farm Bill should support. *After

the speak out we walk to Speaker Pelosi's office and escort a delegation

advocates that will meet with Speaker Pelosi's staff to deliver our message.

*

Get involved in creating this event: *jessicabell*, 510

704 0245, *http://www.cafoodjustice.org*.

 

*The Heart of the City Farmers Market is at 1182 Market Street, San

Francisco, next to the Civic Center BART Station. More info at: *

http://sanfrancisco.citysearch.com/profile/863197

*