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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Healthy School Food: Pay Now, Save Later
  • Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 11:41:10 -0700


Healthy School Food: Pay Now, Save Later
http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2011/01/healthy-school-food-pay-now-save-later/

Congress will debate the wisdom of subsidies for the largest growers of corn,
soybeans, cotton, wheat and rice as it considers the upcoming budget and the
2012 farm bill. Advocates for a more rational food policy (like EWG) will
press for shifting resources to encourage consumption of fruits and
vegetables and level the farming field for producers of sustainably-grown
healthy foods.

Let’s do the numbers for one state: California. Its schools — which serve
about 11 percent of school lunches nationwide — would need roughly $150
million a year to meet the proposed standards. Just buying more fruits and
vegetables would cost about $75 million. That’s equal to the subsidies that
went to 200 California farming operations, mostly producing cotton, dairy and
rice. Each collected an average of about $375,000 a year –- a jaw-dropping
sum.

Tough budget times call for serious fat-trimming. Why give scarce public
funds to the state’s largest farm operators when a fraction of that subsidy
money could improve our kids’ diets and help fruit and vegetable growers who
provide jobs and $15 billion in annual economic value?





  • [Livingontheland] Healthy School Food: Pay Now, Save Later, Tradingpost, 01/25/2011

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