This opinion No Lunch Left Behind [1] by Alice Waters [2], president of The Chez Panisse Foundation [3] and Katrina Heron [4], a director of the foundation and a co-producer of civileats.com [5] is one of the most passionate arguments I have read for sustainable agriculture in our country and in every country.
Food: It’s what we feed our children – that’s what our world will live on tomorrow.
This should be priority number one for any sustainable agriculture movement in our region.
It doesn't have to be this:
From the article: "Some Americans are demanding better. Parent advocacy groups like Better School Food have rejected the National School Lunch Program and have turned instead to local farmers for fresh alternatives. Amid steep budgetary challenges, these community-supported coalitions are demonstrating that schools can be the masters of their own menus. Schools here in Berkeley, for example, continue to use U.S.D.A. commodities, but cook food from scratch and have added organic fruits and vegetables from area farms [6]. They have cut costs by adopting more efficient accounting software and smart-bulk policies (like choosing milk dispensers over individual cartons), and by working with farmers to identify crops that they can grow in volume and sell for reasonable prices."
I urge you to click though and read this passionate plea to feed our children fresh local food, for teaching them about food and their environment. I urge you to ask yourself, how could we let them eat the way our schools and our United States Department of Agriculture have asked them to? Do you think that Obama's kids are subjected to this? Don't let the USDA feed the next generation brain food made of empty calories and no understanding. Let's have gardens on every schoolyard, science curriculum that incorporates agriculture and the botany, biology, and chemistry therein. And while they're learning to grow food, let them eat well. Don't let kids go hungry.