Colorado’s governor Bill Ritter is proposing a tax on candy and soda (as well as junk mail) to try and ease budget strains.

The AP reports:

The exemption for candy and soft drinks would save $3.5 million this year and $18 million next year. The governor’s plan to suspend a tax exemption for junk mail, which is expected to restore $290,000 in the current budget and $1.4 million in next year’s budget, was the first to pass the House Finance Committee.

The bill now goes to the full House for debate.

Ritter’s proposal had support from teachers, students and retirees, who said they sacrificed to prop up the state budget and believe it’s time for businesses to share the pain.

While this may sound like a great way to generate funds, fight obesity, and encourage healthier eating (the idea of a soda tax has been gaining in popularity), there are some logistical problems that seem pretty significant:

Rep. Brian DelGrosso, a Republican from Loveland, said the candy tax is virtually unenforceable. He said it’s impossible to determine which snacks qualify as food and would be exempt under the bill. Items with flour would be exempt, along with some snacks that contain sugar.

DelGrosso said Kit Kat bars, for instance, would be exempt because it qualifies as a cookie. Milk duds would be taxed.

But, the idea is still garnering support elsewhere. To the south, two New Mexicans made a strong plea for a similar idea:

While a food tax does nothing but harm, a junk food tax would do some good. It would, for instance, help combat New Mexico’s growing obesity crisis, which would reduce health care expenses over the long term. In 1986, fewer than 10 percent of New Mexicans were obese, according to data from the Centers on Disease Control and Prevention. By 2008, over 25 percent of New Mexicans were obese.

In addition, according to a 2003 analysis by the Taxation and Revenue Department, a tax on candy and soft drinks would generate approximately $22.4 million annually.

The health and economic benefits of a junk food tax explain why more and more states are enacting them. Thirty-three states tax soft drinks. Fifteen states tax candy.

I’m all for it as long as the Peppermint Patty is exempt.

Just one week ago,  I wrote a post on an extensive study that concluded that one in five Americans went hungry last year.

Unfortunately, it’s likely I’ll find myself writing quite often about the disheartening food crisis in the United States. Today, a new study, this time by Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief charity, released its own report, Hunger in America 2010.

The data from Feeding America is interesting, because they are associated with 41,600 food banks (and other sorts of feeding agencies) across the country, so their numbers correlate directly with emergency food distribution throughout the United States.

Currently, the organization is providing food to 37 million Americans, including 14 million kids and three million seniors. That means that one in eight Americans relies on Feeding America for food. The charity’s food network says they are feeding one million more people than they were in 2006.

But the following stats are the ones I’ve found most hard to swallow. Since 2006, there has been a 50 percent increase in the number of children who are depending on Feeding America for basic food needs. Thirty-six percent of the households fed by the group’s network have one or more adults working. And while 76 percent of adults who used a food pantry last year were unemployed, 3.2 million of them had lost their job sometime in the preceding 12 months.

What this says is that children are bearing a tremendous brunt of the hunger crisis. And that just over one-third of those going hungry aren’t unemployed — they’re severely underemployed. And of course, two-thirds of hungry Americans don’t have jobs — and many of them lost their income at some point since Wall Street burst in 2008.

The human toll of this recession is astounding. Perhaps even more astounding is how ineffectively our so-called public servants have reacted in the face of such misery. We live in the richest country in the world, and the weakest among us — children, the elderly, the working poor, the unemployed — have experienced little to no relief.

The only good news would seem to be that with eligibility requirements eased and benefits slightly increased for the SNAP/food stamps program, the hunger crisis isn’t as bad as it might otherwise be. There was also a $1 billion increase in child nutrition programs — such as school lunches — last year.

Despite these glimmers of hope, however, we’ve clearly not done nearly enough to help the hungry find access to food in times of need, or better help them feed themselves. Indicative of this, Feeding America said that given the huge uptick in people seeking food from pantries, many sites had to cut food portions and even turn away folks.

How is this possible in our land of plenty? We are the world’s largest exporter of corn and soybeans; we rank among the highest beef exporters, too. I know America has enough food for everybody who lives here.

The Treasury Department and the Fed have been crowing since mid-last year that our economy has “rebounded,” and that for the first time in two years our economy is growing instead of contracting. But all the while, unemployment has remained in the double-digits (10 percent is “low” these days, and of course it underestimates true unemployment and completely disregards the underemployed). And among certain demographics — particularly minorities — unemployment may hit the teens and 20’s this year. Indeed, Feeding America produced data that is consistent with this: blacks and Latinos constitute 34 and 21 percent, respectively, of those seeking food.

We must get food on hungry Americans’ plates. One debate taking place in Washington right now could steer us in the right direction. The question of doubling the Department of Agriculture’s budget to buy surplus commodities for charity feeding programs ought be a no-brainer. No food pantry should be turning people away in their time of dire need.

But we need to get people back to work, too. Fearmongers will yell about frozen budgets and rising deficits, but if we are able to bail out the fools on Wall Street who flushed our economy down the shitter and if we are able to spend ungodly sums of money each day on unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, then we can bail out the folks who power our economy from the grass-roots up.

As Martin Luther King, Jr. would say, our society is only as strong as the weakest among us. In 1967, he lamented that a nation that encourages “economic exploitation”  and “continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” Forty-three years later and what has become of us?

Earlier today, I reported on my blog about a bill banning junk food in schools that passed the Massachusetts House. The ban, which only applies to so-called “competitive foods,” covers “sugary” sodas, cookies, candy bars, and some chips and sports drinks. Instead, schools are encouraged to sell non-fried fruits and vegetables, whole grains, non-fat or low-fat dairy, non-carbonated water, and 100% juice. Competitive foods are the a la carte items sold outside of the National School Lunch Program. Nationally, the National School Lunch Program has federal nutrition standards, but competitive foods do not.

Since my original post about this bill, I’ve learned more – and the news is all good! First, the House vote was nearly unanimous and the Senate is expected to pass the bill as well. Second, in addition to getting the junk out of schools, the bill attempts to put produce from local farms into schools. Massachusetts has a vibrant agricultural sector and more food is sold directly from farmer to consumer in Massachusetts than nearly any other state (they are second to Rhode Island). An amendment to the bill calls for research on available local food as well as what foods the schools are interested in. According to The MetroWest Daily News:

Apparently pork is more than just “the other white meat,” and is now a sexual stimulant. At least, according to Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez. The news, which may not be welcome to Viagra, I’m sure garnered lots of applause from leaders of the pig farming industry whom she was addressing.

And her qualifications on the subject? Reuters reported:

Argentina’s president recommended pork as an alternative to Viagra Wednesday, saying she spent a satisfying weekend with her husband after eating barbecued pork.

I’m not sure if that’s just inappropriate or grossly misleading, but I don’t eat pork, so maybe I’m missing something. Or it just may be a government plot to oust King Beef. Here’s Reuters again:

Argentines are the world’s biggest per capita consumers of beef, but the government has sought to promote pork as an alternative in recent years due to rising steak prices and as a way to diversify the meat industry.

Maybe Fernandez shouldn’t be getting into bed with any part of the meat industry, though. I’m not sure if Argentina is as enamored of factory farms as we are, but in the U.S., the vast majority of our meat comes from a system that is wreaking environmental havoc. As E Magazine reported:

More than a third of all raw materials and fossil fuels consumed in the U.S. are used in animal production. Beef production alone uses more water than is consumed in growing the nation’s entire fruit and vegetable crop. Producing a single hamburger patty uses enough fuel to drive 20 miles and causes the loss of five times its weight in topsoil. In his book The Food Revolution, author John Robbins estimates that “you’d save more water by not eating a pound of California beef than you would by not showering for an entire year.” Because of deforestation to create grazing land, each vegetarian saves an acre of trees per year.

Now, that’s not very sexy at all.

I’ve always regarded urban ag fanatics as a strange species, to be dealt with carefully. These folks claim that urban farms, community gardens, and even backyard gardens will be our savior. I would look at my own life as an apartment dweller who had no idea how to garden and think that they must be crazy. I had tried growing herbs in pots a few times but it always resulted in utter failure. I would spend a lot of money on pots and soil and seeds and then… nothing. Barbara Kingsolver’s book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle made me wish I could garden, and even kind of ashamed that I couldn’t. After my own book (Recipe for America: Why Our Food System is Broken and What We Can Do To Fix It) came out, I joked in interviews that the only thing I grew was mold in my refrigerator. For somebody so passionate about sustainable, local food and the natural world, I was totally pathetic as a gardener. And if I – a college graduate and sustainable food and agriculture activist – couldn’t figure out gardening – what are the chances that the rest of the nation could do it?

As it turns out, I can do it. And so can a large percent of Americans. During World War II, victory gardens produced 40 percent of the nation’s produce. Backyard and urban gardening probably account for nowhere near that today, but – whether due to the economy or the rise in sustainable food activism or both – seed companies have boasted record sales for each of the last two summers. No doubt some people don’t have a yard (or even space on a patio for some pots), and some people just plain don’t have time. But if you have those two things, you can garden. And – as a new and totally addicted gardener – I think gardening can be a major part of transforming our food system to a more sustainable, just, and healthy one.

The gardening bug bit me a few months ago. I spent the second half of 2009 visiting farms and gardens around the country while on my book tour. I’d arrange for speaking gigs and book signings at night, reserving the days to visit farms and learn more about sustainable agriculture. When planning for a trip to Wisconsin, I reserved an entire day to make a pilgrimage to Milwaukee-based Growing Power, an urban farm so successful that even President Clinton took notice. Visiting Growing Power was nothing less than a transformative experience. They turn free inputs like food waste into healthy, sustainable food, all on a mere two acres – and they do it year round in Milwaukee’s cold climate. Growing Power is Milwaukee’s last remaining farm but cities with a glut of foreclosed, empty properties have an opportunity now to repurpose city land for growing food. In fact, Detroit, of all places, is gaining recognition as a hub of urban agriculture. Totally inspired by the Growing Power experience, I started up a worm bin when I got home.

A few months later, my life changed drastically. I moved in with my boyfriend and his two kids – into a rented house with a yard. My worms made the move with me. After conversations with my boyfriend and his daughter’s Girl Scout leader, we made plans to take the girls to a local, organic nursery and for me to teach them how to make a worm bin. The girls were unruly and I wonder how much they actually learned from the visit to the nursery, but the trip was a turning point for me. As we finished our nursery tour, the owner of the nursery let each Girl Scout plant a fava bean to take home. I planted a fava bean too, but I was incredulous that it would actually grow. It seemed too simple. I put this fava bean into this container of potting soil and it grows? Just like that? There’s no special trick to it or magic spells I need to say to make it all work? I withheld my disbelieve and planted my bean.

After lunch, the girls reconvened at the troop leader’s house and we sat in a circle and talked about how to make a worm bin. It was much less organized than I expected – I was used to speaking to adults, not second graders – but the kids went absolutely crazy for the worms. Learning happened, even if it didn’t happen in the linear fashion I had planned. Girl Scouts ran all over the yard, shredding newspaper and grabbing handfuls of dirt and worms. Many girls wanted to take the worms home as pets and give them names. They were jealous that our Girl Scout would get to keep the entire bin of worms, and they wanted to come to our house to visit the worms. My boyfriend’s daughter was thrilled to be the center of attention, and she and her sister spent several days afterward carefully attempting to name each worm. When it was time to toss out the kitchen scraps, the girls each wanted a turn to feed the worms. Over time, the worms became less entertaining, but the girls still come and check out new discoveries when I find them in the worm bin (like worm eggs, sprouted squash seeds, and fungi). When their friends visit, they always ask to see the worms.

For me, somehow, the adrenaline of a yard of screaming Girl Scouts felt much more powerful and moving than an entire book tour of speaking to adults. Don’t get me wrong – I love speaking to adults – but the girls are hilarious when you tell them things like “Some chickens lay green eggs” or “We use worm poop as food for our plants.” When I showed our youngest daughter worm eggs, she asked if she could eat them. In her mind, she ate chicken eggs, so eggs must be for eating.

Getting back to the subject of gardening, the two fava beans we brought home grew. We planted them in the soil and they continued to grow. Nobody was more surprised than me. Then my boyfriend decided to plant some carrots – which we did as a family activity – and I planted some sugarsnap peas and two varieties of squash. All of a sudden, our yard became a garden. It hasn’t been without a few bumps along the way, but it’s addicting. In addition to the plants listed above, we’ve planted cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, scallions, garlic, several types of lettuce, spinach, arugula, chard, lima beans, marigolds, figs, pomegranates, blackberries, dragonfruit, and herbs. It’s a very powerful feeling to grow your own food, and I look forward to the convenience of picking our food just before dinnertime each day instead of trying to manage a fridge full of perishable fruits and veggies. Gardening, it turns out, is as easy as asking for advice and following simple directions.

For the kids, gardening isn’t as stimulating as worms. Our little one is eager to help with gardening but she wants to do it her way. She’s basically playing (which is great) and we have a good day when she doesn’t kill any of the plants. Our older daughter usually doesn’t want to work in the garden but she surprised me this weekend when she asked to help me “plant stuff.” Gardening opens up a world of possibilities to teach the children about biology, ecology, and conservation.

Through this experience, I’ve become a believer that gardening can be and must be a major part of reforming our food system. And children absolutely must be part of the picture. I’ve often heard laments that agricultural and cooking knowledge can die out with just one generation. If that is true, then it must also be true that a society-wide effort can bring that knowledge back in one generation. By engaging the kids in gardening as a means to teach science and to interest them in healthy eating (it remains to be seen whether the kids will actually eat the broccoli they grew themselves), we can produce a generation of gardeners who will grow up to produce their own food and understand the difference between real food and the processed food-like substances often sold at supermarkets.