New West Weekly Ag Roundup

School Lunches Get Makeover and ‘Portlandia’ Spoofs Extreme Local Eating

By Courtney Lowery Cowgill, 1-20-11

	Colin the Chicken, from the new comedy series Portlandia, which spoofs local eating in the first episode, "Farm."

School children across America will be getting more fruits and vegetables thanks to a revision of the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, published last week in the national register.

The revisions (click here to download PDF), which were published shortly after President Barack Obama signed into law the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, was hailed this week by producers and nutrition advocates, but some weren’t happy that it didn’t include any measures to reduce sugar in school meals.

The revisions will mean twice as much fruit for breakfast and twice the variety of fruits and vegetables for lunch (with the exception of starchy veggies, like say, tater tots). They will also significantly reduce the amount of saturated fat, sodium, calories, and trans fats.

But, no mention of sugar and as one blogger on babble.com framed it, that means pink milk can still be on the menu.

Some good reading on the new nutrition standards:

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack blogs about the new requirements here.

The Washington Post reports on the issue here.

Ed Bruske, who’s blog, The Slow Cook, is a great read, btw, writes about the revision on Grist here.

Following up on last week’s roundup of news from the ever-present debate over farm subsidies, the piece to read – and the reaction to it—comes from the New York Times op-ed pages.

The editorial from Saturday calls cutting farm subsidies “… one big-ticket saving that all members of Congress should get behind: cutting the billions of dollars in farm subsidies that distort food prices, encourage overfarming and inflate the price of land.”

A few days later, strangely, on the far right, Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe agreed with the Times (gasp!), suggesting cutting subsidies (as well as the Departments of Commerce and Housing and Urban Development) in a Wall Street Journal commentary.

No matter if it comes from the likes of the New York Times or the Tea Party, suggesting subsidy cuts is always going to get the hackles up with folks in farm country and Denny Barrister, of the Missouri Farm Bureau was one who answered the call, responding with this op-ed in the Missourian that finishes with: “With fewer farmers than ever before in our nation’s history, we had better consider what it takes to keep our farmers producing instead of cutting our food security off at the roots.”

Meanwhile, listening sessions and strategy meetings about the 2012 farm bill are starting to roll and this week, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition held a summit on the topic.

In more GMO news a few items of note this week:

First, Science Daily reports on the first genetically modified chicken, which will not transmit avian flu. The birds were produced at Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh and according to Science Daily, the birds will “not only protect the health of domestic poultry but could also reduce the risk of bird flu epidemics leading to new flu virus epidemics in the human population.”

But, Laurence Tiley, Senior Lecturer in Molecular Virology from the University of Cambridge, warns that these birds aren’t for eating. “The genetic modification we describe is a significant first step along the path to developing chickens that are completely resistant to avian flu. These particular birds are only intended for research purposes, not for consumption.”

Meanwhile, in the plant realm, Food Safety News reports that in light of a lawsuit brought against it, a division of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to halt planting any GE crops on the agengy’s refuges in the northeast.

And, the House Agriculture Committee is hearing from stakeholders today (watch live here) on the Roundup Ready alfalfa issue, four days before the USDA is expected to decide whether or not the controversial crop will be regulated. On the eve of the hearing, Reuters reported on a letter from top Republicans blasting the agency and Secretary Tom Vilsack for “politicizing” what should be a scientific process by holding meetings about the decision.  (Click here for the letter.)

Finally, for a few great reads on the GMO debate and how it relates to the nation’s seed supply, check out the most recent issue of Acres magazine (in my mind the best periodical about sustainable agriculture. You can read former Missoulian Bill McDorman’s story on on the history of the seed industry by downloading a PDF from the Web site.

And finally, just for fun, check out following clip from the first episode – “Farm”—in the new comedy series Portlandia.  The Summary: “A Bohemian couple goes to great lengths to make sure that their restaurant order is ethical and humane.”

My favorite part? When the waitress brings out the “papers” for the heritage, woodland-raised chicken on the menu (fed on “sheep’s milk, soy and hazelnuts"), who’s name happened to be Colin.

It’s inspired me to think about putting together resumes for all our turkeys next year.

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Courtney Lowery Cowgill is a writer and editor (formerly of these pages) who also runs Prairie Heritage Farm, a small farm near Conrad, Montana. She and her husband grow vegetables, (pasture-raised, heritage, organic) turkeys and ancient and heritage grains. As a farmer and writer, she works on and follows food and agriculture issues closely and each week, rounds up the top news stories in this arena for New West. Have an ag story you think should be included in next week’s roundup? You can reach Courtney at courtney@newwest.net.

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