First Lady Michelle Obama and Secretary Tom Vilsack Visit HealthierUS School Award Winner

This morning Secretary Tom Vilsack joined First Lady Michelle Obama at Hollin Meadows Elementary School to recognize their Silver Meadal achievement in the US HealthierUS School Challenge.

USDA established the HealthierUS School Challenge as a way to recognize schools that are creating healthy school environments by promoting good nutrition and physical activity. Silver Medal winners offer a different fruit every day and fresh fruit at least one day per week, as well as have at least 70 percent average daily participation for lunch.

The First Lady and Secretary Vilsack passed out fresh fruit to students before joining other classes in the garden for a fall harvest.

Students at Hollin Meadows enjoy gardens planted by parents five years ago not only during recess, but also during class. Science classes learn about hydroponic plant growth, math classes measure creatures living in the gardens and students plant peanuts as they learn about Virginia history.

Permalink  |  Posted: 08:27PM Nov 18, 2009 by USDAblogger in USDA Web Site  |  Add Your Comment Here [2]

Secretary Vilsack: Addressing Child Hunger and Improving Health

Today I testified before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Environment on the important issue of the upcoming reauthorization of the Department’s Child Nutrition Programs. We have a great opportunity right now to combat child hunger and improve the health and nutrition of children across the country, and we cannot let this moment pass us by.

From my first day as the Secretary of Agriculture, President Obama tasked me with improving the health and wellbeing of America’s children. We have made great strides in making progress towards these goals and raising awareness of this important issue - but we can do better. One out of every three children in America is either obese or overweight and our latest data show that over 12% of children ages 2-5 are obese. Moreover, families are struggling to provide their children food to eat. Yesterday we released the 2008 “Household Food Security in the United States” report showing that in over 500,000 families with children in 2008, one or more children simply do not get enough to eat--they had to cut the size of their meals, skip meals, or even go whole days without food at some time during the year.

The report is a wake-up call for us to get serious about food security, hunger and nutrition in this country. This is an incredibly sobering reminder of the challenge we face in confronting hunger and nutrition in the richest nation on earth. We play a critical role in contributing to the health and wellness of our nation’s future. The National School Lunch Program serves 31 million school children in more than 100,000 schools across the country. The School Breakfast Program is available in over 88,000 schools and about 11 million children participate on an average day.

This legislation can improve access by ensuring food programs reach children when and where they need it. The nutritional quality of school meals and the focus on health in schools is equally important. Children consume too many empty calories each day; we can promote more nutritious school meals through competitive grants and offer interim performance bonus programs for schools showing voluntary improvements.

The reauthorization proposal of an additional $10 billion over ten years is a significant opportunity for us to address hunger, obesity and nutrition in one stroke. We are committed to combating hunger and providing healthier foods to our nation’s future through modernized programs. Just as teachers inspire and parents encourage our children, we must embrace this opportunity to provide America’s children with the healthy foods they need to grow and learn.

- Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack 

Permalink  |  Posted: 01:12PM Nov 17, 2009 by USDAblogger in USDA Web Site  |  Add Your Comment Here [2]

USDA Report Monitors Food Security Among U.S. Households

For some Americans, making ends meet is a struggle even in a strong economy. These households at times have difficulty meeting their food needs and can’t always afford enough food to get them through the month, or the week. During economic downturns, these situations become more common and more serious.

Each year since 1995, USDA has monitored the level of food security -- consistent access to adequate food for an active, healthy life. Since 2000, we’ve been authors of the annual report on food security published by USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) with the collaboration of the Food and Nutrition Service. Today we released our report covering 2008. It was a year of economic downturn, and we saw the number of U.S. households classified as food insecure reach the highest level recorded since 1995.

In 2008 the number of food-insecure households grew to 17.1 million, or 14.6 percent of all households, up from 11.1 percent the previous year. Among households with children, the percentage increase was larger – from 15.8 percent in 2007 to 21 percent in 2008.

Our numbers include a subset of households that experienced more frequent and severe food insecurity, which we call very low food security. In these households, the food intake of some household members was actually reduced, and normal eating patterns are disrupted. In 2008, these households amounted to 5.7 percent of U.S. households, up from 4.1 percent in 2007.

We’re also seeing the recession reflected in the 2008 expenditures on USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP (formerly the Food Stamp Program); at $37.7 billion, expenditures were up 13 percent from the previous year. And we’ve found that for SNAP participants, the prevalence of very low food security rose less in 2008 than among non-participants – suggesting that the food assistance programs provide a buffer against the more severe instances of food insecurity, although they can’t entirely prevent these conditions.

We view the information in the food security report as part of an overall effort to provide access to adequate, healthful food for those who need it. USDA’s food and nutrition assistance programs – programs like SNAP, and the National School Lunch Program - provide the core of the Nation’s nutritional safety net. It’s important for the people who operate these programs – and for our representatives in Congress – to have reliable data on the level of food security and the use of food and nutrition assistance programs both public and private. The information in the yearly food security reports is also used by community food providers and by private organizations that are working to alleviate food insecurity.

Margaret Andrews, Economist, and Mark Nord, Sociologist, USDA Economic Research Service

Permalink  |  Posted: 12:14PM Nov 16, 2009 by USDAblogger in USDA Web Site  |  Add Your Comment Here [0]

An Informative Farm-to-School Roundtable in St. Paul

I had the opportunity this week to participate in a roundtable discussion and tour of the St. Paul Schools’ Nutrition Services center. Joining me were local school foodservice professionals and members of the farming, distribution and non-profit community who are working to expand Farm-to-School programs in Minnesota.

The St. Paul Farm-to-School program is part of a rapidly expanding effort by school districts throughout the country to purchase locally grown food from small and mid-size farmers. Farm-to-School programs link children and local farms through cafeterias and classrooms. The programs educate kids about where and how their food is grown while introducing them to healthier, fresher foods. The programs also provide new opportunities for farms targeting local markets.

The Minnesota School Nutrition Association and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy are partnering to spearhead Farm-to-School efforts with districts across the state. St. Paul Public Schools featured a dozen local fruits and vegetables in school lunches during the first six weeks of this school year alone. During that time, St. Paul schools purchased 110,000 pounds of locally-grown produce. An impressive 56 percent of the district's total fresh produce purchases were local products. Also, listen to a Public Service News report on my visit here.  

USDA has recently created a Farm-to-School Tactical Team to travel across the country to work with local and state authorities, school districts and community partners to gather and disseminate information on infrastructure and best practices for procuring local produce and implementing farm to school activities. The team is planning several visits in the weeks to come, and I look forward to reviewing their findings. 

Join me today at 3pm ET for a live Facebook chat about Farms to School efforts and the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative. 

Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan

Permalink  |  Posted: 10:07AM Nov 05, 2009 by USDAblogger in USDA Web Site  |  Add Your Comment Here [0]