"Agricorps" Follow-Up

After writing last night, I thought I'd better check to make sure that there wasn't already an existing Agricorps organization that I'd overlooked.

Upon typing "agricorps" into Google, however, the first link that came up was a wikipedia link. I clicked on it, and learned that an agricorps organization does exist.....in StarWars!

The beginning of the article was as follows:

"The Agricultural Corps (or AgriCorps) was one of the several branches of the Jedi Service Corps staffed by young Jedi learners, ages 6-16. Among the Padawans, assignment to the AgriCorps was considered a demarcation of inability. The function of the Corps was to aid in tending to and harvesting crops for the Republic."

(Interesting to note, that even in the scifi Star Wars universe, being assigned to work as a farmer was considered a "demarcation of inability")

This made me chuckle.

"Agricorps"

I just read Lisa Hamilton's article "Why not start Agricorps, for a new crop of farmers?" (The link to it can be found under the articles section to the right) and am really intrigued by her idea of an "Agricorps."

As I mentioned, at my Thanksgiving dinner this year we had eight Americorps volunteers who are working at the Shaw Nature Reserve doing prairie restoration. In a sense, however, the tasks that they are currently performing don't differ much from what they might be doing if they were working on farm: weeding, planting, evaluating the soil, etc. Hamilton brings up the point that people might object to having an organization (her proposed "Agricorps") that sends volunteers to help private farms, that are working to make a profit for themselves, rather than providing some service to the community. Hamilton then goes on to discuss that perhaps we should consider farmers public servants. And I definitely agree.



As this chart from the National Agriculture Statistics Services shows, the number of farms and farm workers is steadily and continuously decreasing. A small number of bigger and bigger factory farms are the sources of production for the majority of their particular product. The centralization of this production however, is damaging to the environment. One area is not meant to sustain hundreds of animals or only one type of crop.

Decentralizing farm production by increasing the number of farms spread throughout the country is really important. It is difficult, however, for small farms to sustain themselves in competition with the mass-producing factory farms that have production down to a science. A service that provided volunteers as extra hands on these small farms could make a huge difference in helping them get on their feet. It would also give the volunteers a sense of the hard work and knowledge base that is required to be a successful farmer, and increase the social value of farming as a career, further encouraging more people to become farmers and decentralize farm production.

WWOOF is a world-wide organization that does this sort of thing. I am actually going to participate in the WWOOF Costa Rica program this January, and am really excited to go and spend time on an organic farm in Costa Rica. My motive for participating in the WWOOF organization, in addition to curiosity about organic farming, is because it allows for cheap traveling. The volunteers are required to pay for their own transportation, but are given room and board (for free or for a small sum) in return for a few hours of work a day, and the rest of their time is theirs to spend as they wish. In this way, volunteers can experience a new place cheaply.

There is a WWOOF United States program, but I don't think that some states, like Missouri, for example are going to attract many travelers looking to see exotic sights and travel inexpensively. (I feel justified in using Missouri as an example since it is my home state). So, an "Agricorps" organization would have to have some other "pull-factor" to entice people to participate.

Another idea would be to have schools take their children to nearby farms on a daily (or weekly) basis to work and in that way implement a respect for the land and for farming in them, and perhaps inspire some of them to become farmers. (Sort of like the Waldorf School's Forest Kindergartners: www.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/nyregion/30forest.html).

Section Investigation

This week in my environmental science section, we set off to the grocery stores to investigate what kinds of foods had corn (in some form) as an ingredient. The idea came from the movie "King Corn" (which I haven't actually seen). My classmates said that in the movie a group goes to the supermarket and had a lot of difficulty finding foods that don't contain corn, so we decided to try it ourselves.

We started out at East Side Market and split into pairs, each taking a different aisle. I ended up in the organic section, investigating organic chips and frozen foods and cereals. Interestingly, the most prominent ingredient in this section was soy, rather than corn.

Everyone else, though, found that corn was an extremely prevalent ingredient, in all sorts of foods, from frozen meals to cereals and crackers, to taco mix, even to rice! What was most interesting, however, was the fact that corn was even an ingredient in cleaning products! We found shampoos and conditioners containing corn, and also products like Febreze.

After visiting East Side Market, we decided to check out Whole Foods. The results were pretty similar, though we did find that more products in Whole Foods had detailed ingredient lists.

Now that I have a better sense of how prevalent corn is in my life, I want to King Corn to learn more about this staple.

Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving approaching, I thought it might be interesting to look up the caloric value of my favorite Thanksgiving foods (though hopefully the results would not be too deterring for when the day and feast actually arrived).

The two websites that I found that listed Thanksgiving staples and their respective caloric values agreed, for the most part; the ones with two numbers and a dash are the ones that differed the most. These differences, I assume, must stem from variation in the preparation, for example, the amount of sugar added to the cranberry sauce or candied sweet potatoes, or the amount of butter added to the mashed potatoes.

Food: Calories:

3 c salad with diet dressing: 100

4 oz. dark meat turkey: 323

4. oz. white meat turkey: 180

½ c stuffing: 180

½ c cranberry sauce: 190/110

½ c mashed potatoes: 150/95

½ c gravy: 150/100

½ c sautéed green beans: 50

½ c candied sweet potatoes: 150/210

1 dinner roll: 110/87

1 pat of butter: 45

1 piece of apple pie: 410

1 piece pumpkin pie: 180/316

½ c whipped cream: 75

½ c ice cream: 145

data from:

http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-thanksgiving-food-b362227

http://walking.about.com/library/cal/blthanksgivingcalories.htm

I have to admit that I am sort of unsure how much a half a cup of gravy actually is. In visualizing a ½ c measuring cup that seems like it might be a large serving, while a half a cup of mashed potatoes (one of my favorites) seems much more manageable. But, in spite of this, it is undeniable that Thanksgiving is about gorging yourself on delicious, fall foods while enjoying the company of your family and friends.

My environmental science class, however, has caused me to think about how excessive this is in comparison with the starvation throughout the world. While I am eating seconds of my aunt’s blackberry-peach pie and Jello casserole, most people around the world are surviving on simple cereal grains and starches.

Again, though I am not sure exactly how to compare these numeric values, I looked up the calories in some of these grains and starches. (Perhaps in the future I’ll investigate further this comparison, taking into account serving sizes etc.)

Food: Calories:

1 c raw cassava: 330

1 raw potato: 130-240 (depending on the size)

1 cooked potato: 138-161

1 c rice: 166-700 (depending on type and whether

cooked or not)

1 c wheat flour: 166-500

(data obtained using http://calorielab.com/index.html)

These graphs didn't translate quite as well as I'd hoped, but below is the address where I found them, so click on that to see them in greater detail. To sum up, however, the average amount of calories consumed in the following areas of the world, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service (under the US Department of Agriculture) are as follows:

United States: 3,654

European Union: 3, 394

North Africa: 3, 187

Sub-Saharan Africa: 2, 176

Developing Asia: 2, 648

Latin America & Caribbean: 2, 791

The most drastic difference in the charts is in the distribution of the source of caloric intake among the food group in different areas. In the United States and European Union grains (or "cereals") consist of only 1/4 of the daily diet, whereas for all the other areas the diet is between 37% and 62%.

http://www.fas.usda.gov/info/agexporter/2000/Apr/diets.htm

In light of this, on Thanksgiving, where my personal intake of fats and oils and sweets rockets (as it does for most of the American population) my favorite holiday does seem excessive and unnecessary. Perhaps we would be better off sending this food (or the money spent on it) to another country as aid. This depressing thought about starving populations and excessive American consumption, however, cannot spoil my Thanksgiving. I don't mean to discount this issue, but Thanksgiving is about more than just eating a lot.

To me, Thanksgiving is very much about nature. I always spend it with my own family, extended family and family friends at the Shaw Nature Reserve. After our meal we head out for a hike through the prairie and the wetlands to the gravel bar where we have rock-skipping contests on the river. Thanksgiving, for me, would not be complete without this hike; when I think of Thanksgiving I feel the grinding stones under my tennis shoes, the whisper of dry leaves and the smell of campfires and cinnamon. And, the purpose of the holiday is to reflect on the blessings in life. One of the blessings I can count is the availability of this food on this day to me and my family. This year my aunt was kind enough to extend invitations to eight Americorps volunteers who are working at the Nature Reserve to join us for Thanksgiving dinner, which they otherwise might not have had. Though these volunteers aren't starving, this was a generous gesture on her part. I used to think that Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday because it wasn't about giving and receiving like so many other holidays are. But, I realize that it is about giving and receiving. It is about sharing love and affection and time. And, that cannot be boxed and sent overseas in an aid package.

Beginnings

Over Spring Break last year I returned home to find that my family had (finally) acquired a mixer, after years and years of mixing cookie dough and cake batter by hand with forks pulled from our silverware drawer. I'd always envied my grandmother's mixer which made the chocolate chip cookies (and dough) fluffier and somehow tastier than the denser, gooier cookies that came out of our oven. (Though, one of my younger brother's science projects revealed that the secret to this difference may have been in the temperature of the butter used in the baking...)

The mixer that my mom bought at a garage sale was probably made in the 70s (it is that olive green color that plagued 70s decor). The bowls that came with it didn't quite fit right and it tends to get really hot if it runs too long. But, I loved it.

Baking was so satisfying: watching the batter whirr through the beaters and peaks form in the icing. I began reading food blogs incessantly and looking up dozens of recipes, expanding my cooking interests beyond just desserts. I was so engaged that my mom started joking that I should drop out of college and go to chef school instead.

But, upon returning to Brown and taking an intro environmental science class, I was introduced to another realm of cuisine: green cuisine.

This blog, then, will be an exploration of cooking and the environment.