The way San Diego gets its food needs to change.
This is the message that local grassroots organization San Diego Food Not Lawns wants to convey during the all-day “Cultivating Food Justice” conference and festival on Saturday, March 3, from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. at San Diego City College, 1313 Park Blvd.
The conference will inform people about issues related to how we buy, sell and consume food. The conference will feature various speakers on different issues ranging from the effects of globalization to rooftop and organic gardening, said San Diego Food Not Lawns organizer Kate Hughes.
Registration for the event begins at 8:30 a.m. Opening speaker Michele Simon, author of “Appetite for Profit: How the food industry undermines our health and how to fight back,” is scheduled to deliver the opening speech at 9 a.m. The conference is divided into three workshop sessions with a free lunch between 11:45 a.m. and 1 p.m. and dinner for sale between 5:30 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. Also speaking is United Farm Workers Co-Founder Dolores Huerta, who is scheduled to give the keynote address at 7 p.m. Huerta is known for her work in the American Civil Rights movement as well as her advocacy for farm workers’ rights.
The first session of the conference focuses on defining main concerns and problems. According to the conference flyer, issues like overfishing, globalization and immigration problems related to farming will be presented.
The second workshop session focuses on “discovery.” During this session, presenters and speakers will illustrate what resources are available to begin effecting change. Important points discussed during this session include food literacy in schools, national and international food policy, issues concerning land use and food security.
The third session of the conference will include workshops designed to inform and give people hands-on experience with farm related activities including composting and worm-bins, according to the conference schedule. Youth and children who attend will be able to participate in a cooking workshop, art activities, gardening and other activities for youth who want to get involved, Hughes said.
During the event, attendees will learn about how issues that concern many residents are related to the food they eat. Issues such as global warming, land usage and the influx of migrant farm workers, a number of whom are here illegally, all relate to each other, Hughes said.
“Part of the gist of the conference is looking at the dynamic of how food is interconnected with many of the other things people are trying to address in the county,” Hughes said.
Many of these concerns can be addressed by being conscientious about where the food on our plate comes from, said Barry Logan, a local farmer of La Milpa Organica in Escondido. At the event, Logan will speak about the 100-mile diet.
On average, Logan said, the food on our plate has traveled approximately 1,300 miles. In the context of global warming and conserving energy, much of the shipment of food is detrimental not only to the environment but to local farmers and consumers, he said.
Historically, humanity has eaten locally. Whether as hunter-gatherers or agriculturalists, people have grown food nearby. It’s only been in fairly recent times that the process of globalization has tended to globalize our food chain, Logan said.
“With every step, you take away from the garden food that is harvested. Its freshness, its nutrition and its taste goes downhill. So, oftentimes what people are getting in grocery stores may look good, because food now is designed to look good and ship well, but it may not necessarily have great nutrition and great taste,” Logan said.
The 100-mile diet discusses possibilities for consuming food that is grown or farmed within a 100-mile radius of one’s home. The movement sprang up as way to curb the oil and energy consumption used in shipping food. Originally conceived in Canada, the movement has caught on at an international level, according to the 100-mile diet’s Web site.
Relocalizing food production may not solve all of humanity’s problems, but it can help curb dependence on food that comes from far away, Logan said. In the wake of recent geopolitical events, environmental movements and U. S. dependence on foreign oil, the possibility for a threat to the food system exists, Logan said.
“If our whole food system depends on a ready flow of cheap petroleum, what happens when that ready flow of cheap petroleum stops? It means that our food security could be in jeopardy,” Logan said.
Logan advocates buying locally grown foods, but he also said we can learn lessons from recent American history. Victory Gardens, which originated during the World Wars, were gardens grown in residences and homes throughout the U.S. to support the war efforts. According to some estimates, up to 40 percent of produce grown and consumed in the U.S. came from these gardens, Logan said.
These lessons from history in both buying and growing locally can increase the community morale and self-reliance during rough times, he said.
“I think a lot of people feel they have no power to do anything, and growing [vegetables] is something everybody can do. It gives a real sense of satisfaction to eat something that you’ve grown and a real sense of pride to share what you’ve grown with somebody else and eat it together,” he said.
Logan and La Milpa Organica organically grow about 150 different types of vegetables. Their vegetables can be found at farmer’s markets all over San Diego each day of the week, he said.
San Diego Food Not Lawns is a grassroots group focused on “cultivating an edible future.” The group meets weekly to discuss important issues related to building a sustainable agricultural economy and reducing our “ecological footprint.” The movement emerged in response to the converging potential crises on the nation’s food supply as farms across the nation are being converted to ornamental farms and lawns, Hughes said. For more information on San Diego Food Not Lawns and the event, visit www.sdfoodnotlawns.com.