http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=257072&&;
June 14, 2006
Senator Clinton, New York Producers, Educators, Nutritionists, and Food Service Directors Join to Promote “Buying Local” Strategies
Meeting brings New Yorkers to Washington, DC to promote local produce buying strategies to Members of Congress
Washington, DC – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton joined yesterday with Senators Arlen Specter, Tom Harkin and Herb Kohl to sponsor a congressional briefing on “Leveraging Local Food Systems for Healthy Farms and Healthy Communities”. The briefing provided an overview of model programs, economic impacts, and policy recommendations for leveraging local community food systems to improve access to healthy foods by schools, retailers, restaurants and local communities. In addition, a “Local Foods” reception was held in the evening, which focused on the importance of local food systems in improving school nutrition for kids and the importance of making locally grown, healthy food available to as many markets as possible.
The congressional briefing consisted of a diverse panel of experts including Chez Panisse founder and Executive Chef, Alice Waters; John Fisk, Director of the H.A. Wallace Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Winrock International; Marion Kalb, Director of the National Farm-to-School Program with the Community Food Security Coalition; Matthew Porterfield, a senior fellow at the Harrison Institute at the Georgetown Law Center, who is an international trade specialist; and Kelly Brownell, a professor of psychology and Director of the Rudd Center for Food and Obesity Policy at Yale University. Hiram Bonner, Director of the Community Kitchen at FoodChange in New York City, who leads an innovative program that addresses poverty via nutrition, education and financial empowerment, moderated the session.
The reception was hosted by DC Central Kitchen, a non-profit anti-hunger organization in Washington D.C., using locally procured and donated produce from mid-Atlantic farmers. New York City SchoolFood Chefs William Doherty and Sid Grabill prepared three dishes for the reception using exclusive recipes from the school system in New York City. New York City SchoolFood, which serves over 1.1 million meals to kids each day, has been a national leader in innovating nutritious meals that children love to eat.
“We need to start the discussion now, in advance of the Farm Bill, about creating innovative ways of supporting our farmers, while improving access to healthy food for our kids and in all of our communities,” Senator Clinton said. “New York State is already way ahead of the game in this area. Our farmers produce an amazing diversity of high-quality agricultural products that consumers value and demand and we have many grassroots initiatives that are working to develop local markets, but we need to do more at the federal level to support these programs. Schools, retailers, restaurants and food service providers across the state have already shown their enthusiasm for locally grown New York agricultural products and the growing interest that many have in developing a healthy, sustainable food culture also provides a great way for us to promote New York agriculture. This briefing is the perfect opportunity to facilitate the discussion and connections needed to support our farmers, to help open markets and to ma
ke healthy food even more accessible for everyone.”
Several New York food suppliers, buyers and chefs were present at the day’s events, including:
• David Berkowitz, Executive Director, NYC Office of SchoolFood
• Chef Jorge, Executive Chef, NYC Office of SchoolFood
• Hiram Bonner, Director, Community Kitchen, FoodChange, NYC
• Tom Ferraro, Executive Director, FoodLink, Rochester, NY
• Jake Pfohl, Vice President of Program Development, City Harvest, NYC
• Fern Gayle-Estrow, Chairperson, NYC Food Systems Network
• Marcel Van Ooyan, Executive Director, Council for the Environment NYC
• Allison Bennett, Farm-to-Market Manager, Watershed Agricuture Council, Catskills, NY
• Gil Gillespie, Director, Community Food and Agriculture Program, Cornell University; and
• Don Tobias, Executive Director, Cornell Cooperative Extension, NYC.
The briefing was organized with the support of the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC), the Northeast Midwest Institute, The Food Trust, National Farmers Union, Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, National Family Farm Coalition, Henry A. Wallace Institute at Winrock International, Chez Panisse Foundation, DC Central Kitchen, and the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University.
Senator Clinton has long worked to help expand markets for New York State agriculture and to provide consumers with high-quality, nutritious food. In April, the Senator’s Office joined with the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (cIcu) to bring together New York State colleges, foodservice representatives, and farmers’ groups for a conference titled Colleges Buying Local: A Farm-to-Fork Initiative.
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