Capacity Matters For CED, Part 2: News For the NC Food Industry and Farmers

<p>Food is in the news, and CED professionals should look below the surface images and arguments to a fundamental question raised about local capacity issues important to the NC farm and food industry. In honor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Food for All all-university 2015-2017 academic theme, this post offers the following food for thought (pun intended):</p> The first ever state-wide study of the capacity of NC school kitchens is now available (more below) This week, a new documentary titled “Where to Invade Next?” by controversial filmmaker Michael Moore will open across the country featuring a comparison of school lunches in the United States and France (guess who wins?) The Child Nutrition Act, the five-year federal reauthorization of school meal and related programs, will be taken up by Congress this week A guest editorial titled “The Real Problem with Lunch” speaking to both the Moore documentary and the national legislation was published last Friday in the New York Times <p>While the topic is food, the underlying theme for CED professional across all these is basic capacity issues to purchase, store, process and serve food in our communities. The “school lunch” angle of this issue is important, but CED officials will also be interested in the local food producers, packers, processors and distributors required to accomplish effective local food distribution. Either way, the findings have ramifications for our state’s farm and food industries broadly. A lot of money is at stake. The school meal and Farm to School programs, alone, spend close [...]</p>