MCE Food & Farm Twitter Recap: Dec. 23, 2015 - Jan. 31, 2016
We recognize that not all of our Food and Farm fans are Twitter users. Therefore, we are emailing you these articles to ensure everyone can see what articles we found useful around local food and sustainable food systems in the last two weeks.
Table of Contents

Social Media Highlight 

Local Food 
- Lifestyle
- Events
- News
- Resources

Food and Farm
- News
- Resources
Social Media HighlightSocialMediaHighlight

Have you used MCE's Interactive Local Foodshed Map? If so, we'd love your feedback! Please take moment to fill out our Google Form to let us know how you have used the map, what is useful and what could be improved.

Local Food LifestyleLocalFoodLifestyle2 (#localfoodlifestyle)

Did you know, the City of St. Louis has a whole webpage with resources for individuals interested in composting? Check out the city's webpage,  Composting with Worms.

Have you ordered your seeds yet? Try Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds from right here in Missouri! They have the largest selection of heirloom seed varieties in the nation.


No Food is Healthy, Not Even Kale , by Michael Ruhlman   of The Washington Post (Jan. 17, 2016). Kale is still good for you, I promise!
Local Food EventsLocalFoodEvents (#localfoodevent)

Upcoming Events:

February 4 - 6:  Missouri Organic Association Conference  in Springfield, Missouri.

February 9 - 10: University of Illinois Extension's Gateway Small Fruit and Vegetable Conference in O'Fallon, Illinois.

February 10: Gateway Greening's  Food Policy Lunch 'n' Learn: Planning for Food Production,  12pm-1pm at  Schlafly Bottleworks, 7260 Southwest, Maplewood, Missouri 63143.
 
Join Aaron Young, Sustainability Planning Manager at East-West Gateway Council of Governments, for a presentation on food-related excerpts from OneSTL, the regional plan for sustainable development.  Aaron will also discuss ongoing efforts and resources being assembled by partners collaborating on implementation of OneSTL goals, objectives, and strategies.


February 20: Tri-State Local Foods Conference in Quincy, Illinois. 

February 20: Gateway Greening's Community Garden Summit in St. Louis, Missouri.

Recap of Events:

August: In my new blog post, you can read about MCE's trip to Kansas City back in August and the awesome organizations I met with working to advance local food and sustainable agriculture in the Kansas City area.

January 20: I presented with Kevin Warner of Fair Shares Combined Community Supported Agriculture (CCSA) at the Federal Reserve Bank for a Lunch and Learn on the local food economy. 

January 25: I presented at Great Rivers Greenway to the One STL Leadership Network on the state of the St. Louis Regional Food System. East-West Gateway Council of Governments coordinates the One STL Leadership Network. Other presenters discussed specifically ongoing efforts in the region to address obesity and diabetes, food insecurity, food access, and healthy eating habits. These presenters were Dr. Stacey Brown of Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville, Amy Funk of University of Illinois Extension, Rhonda Smythe of Missouri Foundation for Health, Kara Lubischer of University of Missouri Extension, and Julia Brucks of United Way. The hope is that this was one of multiple conversations around regional food issues with the One STL Leadership Network to determine how they can get involved and support existing efforts to fix our food system.

January 29: Pictured below, you will see Spring 2016 Food and Farm Interns, Suzie (left) and Delfina (right), and I (center) outside the St. Louis MetroMarket. We met the market's new director, Lucas Signorelli, who gave us a tour inside and shared his plans for the market this year. The St. Louis MetroMarket will be a great partner of MCE as we seek to increase access to healthy local food from farmers who take care of their soil, water, and air resources. To learn more about the market and its plans to provide healthy local food to St. Louis neighborhoods with the greatest need, visit  http://www.stlmetromarket.com/.



MCE's Annual Meeting

On March 13th, MCE will be hosting our annual meeting 3-5 pm at Schlafly Tap Room. The event is free to members and guests. Join or renew your membership today! Click here for more details. 


Local Food NewsLocalFoodNews (#localfoodnews)


On December 29th, I spoke with Jean Ponzi on her show on KDHX,  Earthworms , to discuss the state of the St. Louis Regional Food System, MCE's recent grant from Missouri Foundation for Health, the new St. Louis Food Policy Coalition, and the policies and projects we would like to accomplish in the region. Listen to the podcast !  






While the position is now closed, the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service had been hiring a Farm to School Coordinator for the Midwest Regional Office, Supplemental Nutrition Program Division! I am excited to see what will come from this new position.

EarthDance Farms is taking applications for their 2016 Farm and Garden Apprenticeship Program. Click here to apply and learn more: 

Food Insecurity Challenge: Nevada, Missouri Acts to Address Hunger, Missouri Ag Connection (Dec. 23, 2015).
 
New shop champions local products, investing in youth, by Jessica Stone of  The Fulton S un (Jan. 3, 2016). 













Eden Alley starts gold, stays gold with 20+ years of local dishes, KC Healthy Kids - Carrot Gold Program (Jan. 14, 2016).

Southern Missouri Food Project Receives Funding for Federal Initiative, by Mike Ursery of KSMU Ozark Public Radio (Jan. 27, 2016).



Food and Farm NewsFoodFarmNews (#foodandfarmnews)

Does U.S. Farm Policy Have a Race Problem?  A new report says the Farm Bill caters to corporations and leaves many people of color behind, b y  Steve Holt of Civil Eats  ( Nov. 10, 2015).


If Doctors Learned To Cook, They Might Give Better Advice, by Christina Farr  of National Public Radio (Dec. 26, 2015).  


Organic farming can cut nitrate leaching in half , by  Francis Thicke, Margaret Smith and Paul Mugge of The Des Moines Register ( Dec. 24, 2015).

No, lettuce is not worse for the climate than bacon , by Katie Herzog of Grist (Dec. 17, 2015). 

To give context to the above article's name, the  Scientific Ameri can   published an article two days prior, "Lettuce Produces More Greenhouse Gas Emissions Than Bacon Does," which compared a recent study - that assessed the environmental impacts of different foods on a calorie basis - to another recent study - that assessed the greenhouse gas emissions from food waste in stores and by consumers and the potential impacts on greenhouse gas emissions if our diets were in line with the USDA's dietary recommendations.

The first study researched
the impact of producing 100 calories worth of lettuce versus the impact of producing 100 calories worth of bacon, versus other foods. In the Scientific American's article, the author of the second study criticized the approach of the first because we do not eat lettuce for calories! I decided not to share this article on Twitter for fear that some people may not read the entire article and then think MCE was promoting eating more bacon and less lettuce to benefit the environment! The article from the Scientific American is still a good read for the research and data nerds out there like me.



On December 30th, PBS aired the show, In the Defense of Food , based on the book by Michael Pollan. With membership to Nina Passport, you can watch the show online here .  Here is a description of the show taken from PBS's website: 

"'Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.' With that seven-word maxim, US-based journalist Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) distills a career's worth of reporting into a prescription for reversing the damage being done to people's health by today's industrially driven Western diet. In Defense of Food debunks the daily media barrage of conflicting claims about nutrition. Traveling the globe and exploring the supermarket aisles to illustrate the principles of his bestselling 'eater's manifesto,' Pollan offers a clear answer to one of the most confounding and urgent questions of our time: What should I eat to be healthy?"


Vegetables Likely To Take More Of Your Plate In 2016, by Bonny Wolf of National Public Radio (Jan. 3, 2016).

How the meat industry marks the land -- in pictures, b y  Mishka Henner of The Los Angles Times (Dec. 27, 2015). 
In Defense Of Food Stamps: Why The White House Sings SNAP's Praises, by Vanessa Rancano of National Public Radio (Dec. 29, 2015).

Thou Shalt Not Toss Food: Enlisting Religious Groups To Fight Waste, by Maria Godoy of National Public Radio (Jan. 18, 2016).




















Local Food ResourceLocalFoodResource (#localfoodresource)

John Wood Community College's Sustainable Local Foods Fruit and Vegetable Certificate provides courses and hands-on training in fruite and vegetable production, small farm operations, entrepreneurship, and marketing. 


Food and Farm ResourceFoodFarmResource (#foodandfarmresource)


Rethinking soil, economics and health, by Fred Kirschenmann of The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture (Winter 2015).
Food and Farm Policy (#foodandfarmpolicy)

Let's make sure the next State of the Union includes bold proposals to reform our food system.  Sign the petition urging the next president to take bold action to reform our nation's food system!

Watch the Plate of the Union video summarizing the issues of our broken food system and share with your friends!



New blog post: Aspects of Our Food System That Keep Me up at Night is a personal reflection I wrote in a recent application to acquire the University of Vermont's Leadership for Sustainable Food Systems Professional Certificate. I enjoyed the prompt, as it helped to reflect on the issues I am most passionate about in our food system and how I can best contribute to the cause.
Thanks for your continued support and enjoy the readings!

Sincerely,

Melissa Vatterott
Food and Farm Coordinator
Missouri Coalition for the Environment
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@MCEFoodFarm
For more information, contact:
Melissa Vatterott | Missouri Coalition for the Environment| 314-727-0600, ext.11 | Email | Food and Farm Webpage