Linda Falkenstein
Federal initiatives have paved the way to more farm-to-cafeteria programs.
The eighth National Farm to Cafeteria Conference officially kicked off at Monona Terrace on June 3 with rousing renditions of UW marching band classics like “The Chicken Dance” and “When You Say Wisconsin” from the “Echoes of Camp Randall” group. The band led a procession of national farm-to-school groups into the first-floor ballroom for the conference’s opening speeches.
This followed a pre-conference day of field trips highlighting the many programs our area has developed to connect healthy, locally grown fruits and vegetables with schools and the underserved. Conference attendees visited the Goodman Youth Farm, Grow Academy, Community GroundWorks’ Troy Gardens and Milwaukee’s Growing Power, among others. Nathan Larson of Community Groundworks, who’s attended three previous Farm to Cafeteria conferences, thinks it’s one of the best of its kind in the country addressing farm-to-table issues. Attendees are “very collaborative and very curious,” says Larson, and “impressed and inspired to see what’s happening in Madison and Wisconsin.”
While the conference's field trips, workshops and “lightning talks” focused on progress being made, the opening speeches took a broader, national look at the farm-to-school movement.
The executive director of the National Farm to School Network, Anupama Joshi, looked back to the group’s origins 14 years ago, comparing it to the present day, with more than 1,000 attending the conference. Of them, 70% were first-time attendees.
Linda Falkenstein
FLOTUS encouraged the conference attendees via a video.
Debra Eschmeyer, executive director of Let’s Move — first lady Michelle Obama’s initiative to improve nutrition and exercise — spoke of how there are now farm-to-school programs in every state, with 40 states having official supportive policies. Moreover, she underlined how important it’s been to have a presidential administration stressing the issue of healthy eating — planting the White House vegetable garden, establishing a pollinator garden, even having the first-ever White House beehive. Eschmeyer brought along a videotaped message from FLOTUS, too; both Michelle Obama and Eschmeyer vowed that the first lady intends to continue working on the issue of healthy food access after she leaves the White House.
Keynote speaker Ricardo Salvador, director of the food and environment program of the Union of Concerned Scientists, sounded a darker and more cautionary note.
“Our first objective is to create a more just food system,” Salvador began. “The food system is broken. It serves well those who have economic power.” Our current food makes us sick, he stressed, referring in part to the diabetes epidemic. “The more profit it makes, the sicker we get.” Not only that, but agricultural laborers have few if any legal protections against chemicals used in fields, he noted.
Salvador exhorted the food activists in the audience to work to “shift the culture.” Much as the culture of the nation changed on social issues, for instance accepting and then demanding marriage equality, the culture needs to shift to reject “what is not tolerable” in the food system.
“You are just the people positioned to do what needs to be done,” Salvador told the audience. “Stop transmitting fairy tales about the way the system works.” Not being satisfied with the status quo is “the single most American thing you can do.”