The juggler campaign

Here is a link to a blog which speaks about the Fruits and Veggies - More Matters campaign as the "juggler campaign." She went on to disagree with the premise, stating that people know they should eat more fruits and veggies, but they will do what they will do. The blogger writes:

I know a woman who was diagnosed with cancer. Every woman in the church who knew anything about nutrition rallied around her, giving her advice on how she could beat the cancer. Bottom line? She didn’t want to cure herself with nutrition. She liked junk food too much to give it up. She believed she only had a short time left to live, and wanted to enjoy food to the fullest. She could have lived a longer life, eating foods that were good for her. She opted to die right away, and love what she was eating. She’s gone now.
It’s a decision each person makes. They have to WANT to change. A campaign isn’t going to do that. We’ve had enough campaigns to make people aware that they need to change their diet. The campaign can’t plant the desire. It can only increase the awareness. We’ve done that. Now, we just need to let the people change if they are willing.

TK: Talk about fatalistic. "We just need to let the people change if they are willing." Did George Washington let the British change if they were willing? Maybe that's stretching the point, but the produce industry and public healthy authorities can't cop such a disinterested attitude. The point about taste is worth bookmarking; consumers have to be excited about what is presented to them in order for the health message to resonate.

And we need a juggler for the More Matters campaign.

Specialty Crop Block Grants

Here is how the House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson handles the Specialty Crop Block Grant programs in his markup of the farm bill. Apparently these allocations are paid-for and not reserve funds. But where is the fruit and vegetable snack program? I could not find the fruit and vegetable snack program in the chairman's markup, meaning it may be grouped with unfunded priorities that are dependent on finding budget offsets. If true, that would be a blow to efforts to expand the snack program nationwide and a serious challenge to the unity of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance.



SEC. 10102. SPECIALTY CROP BLOCK GRANTS.
(a) EXTENSION OF PROGRAM.—Subsection (a) of section 101 of the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004 (Public Law 108–465; 7 U.S.C. 1621 note) is amended by striking ‘‘2009’’ and inserting ‘‘2012’’. (b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Subsection (i) of section 101 of the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004 is amended to read as follows:
6 ‘‘(i) FUNDING.—Of the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation, the Secretary of Agriculture shall make grants under this section, using—
‘‘(1) $40,000,000 in fiscal year 2008;
‘‘(2) $45,000,000 in fiscal year 2009;
‘‘(3) $50,000,000 in fiscal year 2010;
‘‘(4) $55,000,000 in fiscal year 2011; and
‘‘(5) $75,000,000 in fiscal year 2012.’’.


(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 101 of the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004 (Public Law 108–465; 7 U.S.C. 1621 note) is further amended— (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘Subject to the appropriation of funds to carry out this section’’ and inserting ‘‘Using the funds made available under subsection (i)’’; (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘appropriated
22 pursuant to the authorization of appropriations in’’ and inserting ‘‘made available under’’; and (3) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘Subject to the appropriation of sufficient funds to carry out this subsection, each’’ and inserting ‘‘Each’’.

Chairman's mark

Sliding across the inbox at 9:52 pm, Chairman Collin Peterson of the House Agriculture Committee made good on his promise to release the chairman's mark of the 2007 farm bill on Friday. Here is the release from the House Agriculture Committee. This document will take a while to evaluate, particularly the question of how the promised $685 million for f/v priorities is counted. Developing...



IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, July 6, 2007



*Publication Notice*

Chairman's Markup Documents for the 2007 Farm Bill



The Chairman's Markup documents for the 2007 Farm Bill were released today. They are available online at:http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/2007FarmBill.html.The documents have been prepared in anticipation of the business meeting that will be held by the House Agriculture Committee starting on July 17 to consider the 2007 Farm Bill. These documents are intended for use as base text for the markup process and are subject to change prior to the relevant meeting.

Testy Testy

I officially took the day off yesterday, spending much of the day painting our living room. In my absence, though I received a couple of comments on the Irradiation - a healthy glow post. Evidently one of our readers doesn't like the buttermilk analogy and was even less thrilled that I didn't get around to posting his/her reaction(comments are moderated). I think I will put a "blog poll" in place on the subject of irradiation labeling, though these polls have had underwhelming participation.

Pamela Riemenschneider of The Packer recently agreed to be a guest blogger. One of the things she will contribute is observations of retailers around Austin (Texas), which is where she is based now.