Hey there,
It’s me again. I’m back and ready to give returning to consistency another try. I don’t have much of an excuse for my latest pause beyond being quite deeply immersed in the complex and challenging world of high-volume food supply chain greenhouse gas emissions reduction. It’s often as murky as it is exciting, but I constantly feel a lot of gratitude that I get to do a job that feels like it was made for me. I work on a daily basis with chefs, managers, and sourcing analysts that are mobilizing around food system transformation in their various capacities. I also get to support and watch long-held attitudes change, which is often the biggest hurdle to getting anything meaningful done in the (food) sustainability world.
But, I continue to miss story sharing and storytelling. That’s something that has and always will help me maintain community connection. I find it difficult to balance my ‘day-job’ with the same scale of storytelling I had committed myself to previously, but I’ve made a commitment to myself to write.
It also feels more pertinent than ever to keep talking about our food supply chains. As you’ll read below, we’re seeing food used as a weapon in politics and genocide. We’re still seeing food and supply chain crises that should make us reflect and ask questions about why shortages and high prices persist. We also have an opportunity to learn from those who are driving transformation work, and showing us what better could look like.
So here we are. Thanks to select number of people who gave me a gentle, loving kick in the butt to pick this back up.
Welcome back to Before the Cutting Board, your roundup of food + supply chain hot topics to help keep you up to speed on what’s going down with your food.
Let’s dig in.
-This Month-
States battling high hunger rates deny summer food assistance to low-income children
In the US, 14 states are rejecting federal funding for summer food assistance for children in low-income households. All 14 of the states are GOP-led and 10 of them have rates of hunger and food insecurity that were higher than the national average in 2022.
The Summer EBT program, made permanent in 2022, supports low-income households with an extra $40 in SNAP assistance per child per month. The summer food assistance is part of an effort to address the long-recognized seasonal increases in child hunger that the country sees every summer. In line with food apartheid in the US at large, summer increases in food insecurity disproportionately affect Black and Latino children.
Most governors who rejected the federal assistance claim that Summer EBT should be considered as a no longer necessary 'pandemic-program' and pointed toward other existing summer meal programs as sufficient. However, the reality remains that most existing programs have a much more limited reach than Summer EBT due to relying on feeding children at specific locations in group settings. This more traditional assistance model creates barriers for families with transportation and work schedule challenges, a common issue in rural areas. Pandemic-level food inflation also remains high with grocery prices nearly one-third higher than they were four years ago.
Many governors also cited principle as a reason for rejecting the federal support. Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen's rationale for initially rejecting the funding was "I don't believe in welfare". Contrary to the common misconception that public assistance like food aid acts as an economic drain, USDA studies have found that food assistance stimulates economies. In a weak economy, every SNAP dollar spent increases local GDP by $1.54.
In addition to the 36 states that accepted the funding, four tribes will continue to participate in the program - including those that are situated in states that have rejected the funding.
Man-made famine in Gaza
On top of over 29,000 Palestinians killed, Israel's genocide in Gaza is causing a famine. This past week, the World Food Program announced a pause in Northern Gaza. As Israel continues to place restrictions on humanitarian assistance and open fire on food delivery trucks, Gazans have been forced to resort to using bird and animal feed in lieu of flour. In December, the UN reported that over 570,000 Gazans are starving. For context, that's 25% more people than the entire population of Long Beach, my home and the seventh most populous city in California.
Bob Moore leaves a legacy to be admired
Bob Moore, founder of whole-grain food company Bob's Red Mill passed away earlier this month. Moore was famous not only for building Bob's Red Mill, but also for transferring full ownership of the company to its workers. Through deploying an Employee Stock Ownership plan, Bob's Red Mill was 100% employee-owned as of April 2020.
US and Brazil extreme weather leads to higher orange juice prices
Did you know Florida and Sāo Paolo are responsible for 85% of the global orange supply? Extreme weather has been impacting orange production in both areas leading to orange juice price spikes across the world. In the US, estimates indicate that orange production may reach its lowest level in more than a century.
-Community Spotlight-
I feel fortunate in my work to often come across inspiring food and supply chain justice organizations that are driving access and system transformation work in their communities. So I'll be switching up my format some months to highlight orgs that I think you should be aware of and support however you can.
Creating Justice LA, a Black-led nonprofit supporting Skid Row, will be taking over Skid Row People's Market. In 2022, Paris and I spent some time with Skid Row People's Market while filming a short for the LA Food Policy Council on corner stores that were helping CalFresh participants afford produce locally grown by farmers of color. After taking over the business from his parents, owner Danny Park prioritized building a mission for the store centered around healing, access, and equity.
Creating Justice LA is currently running a crowdfunding campaign to fund the purchase and ensure that Skid Row People's Market continues to be anchored in supporting the community in which it resides. Please consider supporting or sharing their campaign.
That’s it for this week. If you enjoyed reading this, please forward to a friend. Even if you didn’t enjoy reading it, still tell your friends - misery loves company :)