Photo credit: Bernard Pollack
1. David Wallinga, IATP, USA says:
“Let’s Move and other federal efforts are directed at spurring demand for healthier, more local foods. But who’s going to grow that food? Neither the Farm Bill nor other agriculture funding is much directed at recruiting new farmers of fruits, vegetables, whole grains or other healthy foods. Or even to remove the substantial barriers imposed by current agriculture policies that prevent new farmers from competing on a level playing field with industrial-scale producers of other crops and the unhealthy foods made from them.”
2. Ysabel Vicente, Citizens for the Reforestation, Spain says:
“I totally agree on the answers others have given. My proposal would be more forward to the future. We must invest in knowledge, the more knowledge a person has is free and can create jobs or ways to invest. I therefore support the creation of schools for children based on the care and integration of the environment. I have a foundation whose purpose is to reforest Spain, and possibly the world, creating awareness among citizens, especially children. They are the future and we must invest in a change of consciousness and thought, to leave their current status. The phrase of my foundation is: “Leave a trail, plant a tree, grows and preserves life.”
3. Esperance Zossou, Africa Rice Center, Benin says:
“My opinion is to invest in two sectors: (1) Rural development (land development, organization of small farmers to enable the use of improved technologies, access of small farmers to micro-credit) (2) Technical information access by farmers, capacity building & communication in rural areas.”
What is your answer? Email me at Dnierenberg@Worldwatch.org or tweet your response to @WorldWatchAg
Danielle Nierenberg, an expert on livestock and sustainability, currently serves as Project Director of State of World 2011 for the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, DC-based environmental think tank. Her knowledge of factory farming and its global spread and sustainable agriculture has been cited widely in the New York Times Magazine, the International Herald Tribune, the Washington Post, and
other publications.
Danielle worked for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. She is currently traveling across Africa looking at innovations that are working to alleviate hunger and poverty and blogging everyday at Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet. She has a regular column with the Mail & Guardian, the Kansas City Star, and the Huffington Post and her writing was been featured in newspapers across Africa including the Cape Town Argus, the Zambia Daily Mail, Coast Week (Kenya), and other African publications. She holds an M.S. in agriculture, food, and environment from Tufts University and a B.A. in environmental policy from Monmouth College.
