| September 18, 2008 |  |
"Green Cuisine" travels to Seattle to Showcase Chef-Farm Partnership
Farmer's organically certified methods help protect critical local salmon habitat
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today published the fourth installment of "Green Cuisine," a recurring Web feature highlighting chefs and farmers who are teaming up to produce food that is good for people and the planet. This time, our "Green Cuisine" chroniclers are in Seattle. UCS speaks with Maria Hines, one of the nation's top chefs, about why she serves local fare at her organic restaurant, Tilth. UCS also talks with award-winning farmer Andrew Stout, one of Hines' organic vegetable suppliers, whose conservation methods help protect critical coho salmon habitat on his farm.
(For UCS's "Green Cuisine" installment, go to: www.ucsusa.org/greencuisine.)
The "Green Cuisine" series' goal is to connect like-minded consumers, chefs and farmers and demonstrate that eating healthy, organic food is practical, affordable and convenient. Within 100 miles of Seattle, for instance, there are at least 212 farms, restaurants, farmers markets and community-supported agriculture groups producing and selling locally grown and raised foods. (For a complete list, go to: www.eatwellguide.org/.)
Americans are changing the food landscape by demanding more local, sustainable food, and local food networks like those around Seattle are sprouting up across the country. Since the early 1990s, the number of local farmers markets across the country has more than doubled, while community-supported agriculture—in which consumers buy shares of the yearly harvest from local farms—has grown by more than 2,000 percent.
Consumers around the country can do their part by buying food from local farms and restaurants, but the U.S. food system needs reform to shift from highly concentrated, over-subsidized, commodity-focused industrial agriculture to a food system that better protects the environment, public health and local communities. The 2008 Farm Bill recently enacted by Congress provides a start by dramatically expanding the Conservation Stewardship Program, which offers financial and technical assistance to farmers such as Andrew Stout who establish conservation programs on their land.
The new Farm Bill also increases funding to promote farmers markets, supports community organizations working on local food access issues, enables schools to buy more locally produced foods, increases funding for research and data collection on organic farming, provides new technical and financial support to farmers transitioning from conventional to organic production, and significantly increases funding for a program that helps small farmers afford organic certification.
UCS Senior Analyst Karen Perry Stillerman, an expert on food policy and alternatives to industrial agriculture, is available for interviews on sustainable food choices and the merits of eating locally.
The Union of Concerned Scientists puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet's most pressing problems. Joining with citizens across the country, we combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe, and sustainable future.
