March Bulletin, 2006
Dear Food Lab Team Members, This is a quick news bulletin to update you on some important recent news and upcoming events… New Orleans This is the time to send names of whom you’d like to invite to New Orleans to LeAnne Grillo. Please note that everyone will be responsible for travel and hotel expenses for this meeting, although limited scholarships are available. Send RSVP and request for scholarship to LeAnne. The first day, Tuesday May 30, will be for initiative team meetings. Wednesday morning initiative teams and the Steering Committee will report to plenary. Wednesday afternoon we’ll immerse ourselves in New Orleans—and tie this immersion to our own commitment to re-design global food systems so they aren’t as vulnerable to collapse as New Orleans. Thursday and Friday morning will be devoted to strategic planning and the launch of the next phase of the Food Lab. We will gather what we have learned, assess impacts, and step back to ask, “What do we need to do, and whom do we need to involve, for SFL to take innovations in supply chains, standards and public procurement to scale?” We’ll also have a session that shares the results of framing research for use in communications. The meeting will end at noon, Friday June 2. Steering Committee members will stay for lunch and an early-afternoon debrief and planning session. Good Financial News! We just received Kellogg Foundation board approval of a new grant to the Food Lab. Kellogg helped kick off the lab 2 years ago, and they tripled their original investment for this second phase, contributing $1.5 million. This grant constitutes 27% of the total estimated budget of core and initiative expenses for the next two years. Kellogg funds are restricted to US expenses and targeted in particular to enable the participation of NGO and community-based leaders who wouldn’t otherwise be able to participate. Nancy and Jerry Kohlberg have invested $25K in the lab because of their personal belief in what we are doing. Thanks go to Peggy Dulaney of Synergos for making this happen. The Charles Leopold Mayer Foundation in France has set aside about 250K euros over the next two years for work on fisheries, food for health, a mini-lab in China, and documenting learning about methodology. Lab Team member Freddie Payton’s work in the Dominican Republic also just received a commitment of about $70K euros from the Rabobank Foundation. See note below for brief project description. Initiative Team Updates: Responsible Commodities Refines its Mission The RCI team feels there will be a greater chance of achieving their objectives (the provision of sustainability guidance that can be delivered cost effectively at large scale and with demonstrable impacts across a range of soft commodities) if it focuses on a select list of commodities where the practical intent of the vision can be more clearly demonstrated. As a result, the team proposes to focus on the sustainable production issues that surround biofuels. The current interest in biofuels from the financial sector, corporates (including energy companies) and producers, coupled with the presumption that biofuels must be environmentally and socially beneficial creates an interesting and timely opportunity for the RCI to test assumptions (for example what are the cumulative impacts of large scale ethanol production in Brazil?) and provide guidance to a range of parties. Latin America Supply Chain Work In addition to the support from Rabobank Foundation, we hope that work in Guatemala will get a boost, any day now, from a USAID grant of $125K/year for 4 years. Dominican Republic project description: Agriculture practiced by small and medium scale farm families dominates the landscape and the economy of the northwest Dominican Republic. The target group of the project is several hundred smallholder farmers in three irrigation districts. AgroFrontera, in partnership with the SFL, will work with farmers, private sector food companies, and other food supply chain stakeholders to improve the capacity of smallholder farmer organizations in the region to supply high quality food products to local, national and international markets. Food for Health Learning and Livelihoods One outgrowth of the F4H meeting in Paris in December (organized by Clive Peckham and reported on in the last newsletter) is a seminar in NYC to bring together people involved in sourcing food for school systems there to learn from the changes put in place by the Rome school system. The Director of the Department of School and Educational Policies in Rome, Dr. Silvana Sari, initiated and continues to lead the “school meal revolution” in Rome. She and Dr. Roberta Sonnino who has published on the development of sustainable systems of school meals and public food procurement in Italy and the UK (under the sponsorship of the UK Economic and Social Research Council) will lead the seminar, March 30/31. Sustainable Fisheries In addition to research and fund raising for the Sustainable Fish Quota in Iceland, team members are working with retailers to develop a brand for the fish. A manager from Whole Foods met with Arthur last month to explore hooking Icelandic small boat fishermen up with his chain. This was their second visit in less than a year and now Arthur has been invited to the US to follow up. Send other news, links and happenings to Daniella Malin	Newsletter Archive: February 2006 (html) November 2005 (html) August 2005 (pdf) June 2005 (pdf) February 2005 (html)
	Other Reports: Learning Histories 1, 2 and 3 Costa Rica Report (pdf) Salzburg Report (pdf)
	SFL Calendar · New Orleans Food Lab Meeting, May 30-June 2 · Mini Food Lab in China! October 22-November 2, 2006 · Workshop to establish public food system sustainability metric. May 19, 2006 · Workshop on setting policy framework for sustainable food systems. Organizers: WHO and SFL. Fall 2006 · Global F4H Conference, Rome, 2007
	Related news and links: · What is Organic? Powerful Players Want a Say: NYTimes 11/1/05 · The New Mainstream: A sustainable food agenda for California, by Ecotrust for Roots of Change Council and Fund · Eating for Credit: NYTimes 2/24 Op-ed by Alice Walker · The Tipping Point: Newsweek, November 05: As global institutions falter in the face of mounting challenges, business has to play an increasingly active role. · Corporate Environmentalism: Materials Pooling Project (RMI/SoL) · Consumers International IIED study From bean to cup Dec2005.pdf: A study of the impact of certification along the coffee commodity chain from producer to consumer. · Agriculture and Environment Indicator Report The IRENA indicator report on agriculture and the environment provides a comprehensive overview on the interactions between agriculture and the environment in the European Union. · Changing Diets, Changing Minds: how food affects mental well being and behavior Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming, working with the Mental Health Foundation, has collected and analyzed around 500 research studies, published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, to demonstrate the breadth and depth of the evidence linking what we eat with mental well-being and behavior. · Healthy Eating Creates Dilemma For Food Industry Food companies are facing a business conundrum in the wake of the consumer stampede towards healthier eating, according to a new report from JPMorgan: continue going against the grain with high margin, not-so-healthy products or deliver healthier foods at smaller margins. Link to United Nations Report