Alabama Food Policy Council: Coalition-Building and Food Policy Activism in the Deep South

8/12/2019 Alabama Food Policy Council: Coalition-Building and Food Policy Activism in the Deep South

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Alabama Food Policy Council:Coalition-Building and Food

Policy Activism in the Deep South

Will Thomas

18 October 2013


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Overview

Alabamas Food System

Alabama Food Policy Council SteeringCommittee

Surveys and Listening Sessions

Survey Results

Next Steps


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In Alabama, we lovefood. In fact, its one ofthe few things that actually brings

Alabamians together.

But far too often Alabama exemplifies someof our food systems worst problems.


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Alabamas Food System Alabama is dually one of the hungriest and most

obese states in the nation (2010 Census): 17.3% of households are food insecure (4th)

32.2% of adults are obese (3rd)

Obesity rate will be 62.6% in 2030 at current trajectory (RWJF

2012) Over 900,000 residents on SNAP, 140,000 on WIC

And we have some awful food habits:

87.1% of Alabamians didnt eat 2+ servings of vegetables/day

77.5% didnt eat 2+ servings of fruit/day (CDC 2012)

Our farms arent producing food anymore:

Between 1997-2007, acreage dedicated to vegetable productionfell 29%

AL farmers only receive about $0.19 for every retail dollar

Alabamas top agricultural product is trees.


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Alabamas Food System

Though whi le these stat ist ics are daun t ing,

food sys tems change is pr imar i ly about the

people who compr ise that sys tem .

In early 2012 a coalition of stakeholdersformed, and with grant money from the AARP

Foundation and technical support from AuburnUniversity, sought to understand whatAlabamians thought about their food system.


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Alabama Food Policy CouncilSteering Committee

AARP Alabama Auburn University/ Alabama Cooperative

Extension System Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network Food Banks: North AL Food Bank, Bay Area Food

Bank (Mobile, AL) Existing Local FPCs: North Alabama FPC, Greater

Birmingham FPC, River Region FPC(Montgomery, AL) Other Advocacy Groups: Alabama Poverty Project,

EAT South, Emerging Changemakers Network


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Surveys

14 (long) questions

Ranking Exercise School Food

Nutrition Food Security

(Hunger)

Local Food

Dues Food Attitudes

Demographics


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Listening Sessions

Communityconversation based onOregon Food BanksCommunity F.E.A.S.T.

model. Acquainted participants

with idea of foodsystem and asked them

to identify stakeholders,strengths, andweaknesses.


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Listening Sessions

Nine listeningsessions were held bysteering committeemembers, and 228people participated inthe survey.

Steering committeeorganizations were incharge of hostingmeetings, and sometook interesting forms.


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Listening Sessions


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Survey Results

Food insecurity (hunger) emerged as mostimportant issue (53.1% voted as top issue)

Food Insecurity(53.1%)

NutritionalQuality (16.2%)

School Food(12.3%)

Local Food(11.8%)


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Survey Results

63.2% indicated theyd be willing to pay dues

to a statewide FPC, avg. of $43.

85.1% said they cared where their food was

produced, but only 29% had any idea wheretheir food was from.

67.1% said food production increases local

economic development. 62.7% agreed/strongly agreed that we need

state policies to reduce food insecurity in AL.


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Survey Results

Do people respond differently to local foodissues based on political affiliation?

Table 5: Top Policy Idea Rankings by Political Affiliation

Ranking Policy IdeaVery Conservative

or ConservativeModerate

Very Liberalor Liberal

Sum

1 Job Creation 14 28 13 55

2Sustainable Agriculture/Agri-tourism

8 20 25 53

3 Reduce Regulations 13 22 7 424 Grants/Tax Incentives 15 13 11 39

Sum 50 83 53 175


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Survey Results

Do people respond differently to hungerissues based on religiosity?

Table 7: Food Insecurity vs. Other Issues by ReligiosityFood Insecurity

Top-RankedOther IssuesTop-Ranked

Sum

Yes, religion is important 88 60 148No, religion is not important 24 27 51

Sum 112 87 199


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Demographic IssuesTable 8: Comparing Survey Sample Demographics to American Community Survey

Survey SampleDemographics

ACS(2011)

Difference

Gender Female 68.8% 51.6% +17.2%Male 28.8% 48.4% -19.6%

Age Median Age 28 38.1 -10.1Employment Unemployed, Seeking

Employment2.1% 6.8% -4.7%

Education Four-year Degree(Completed)

18.4% 13.9% +4.5%

Graduate/ProfessionalDegree

29.9% 8.4% +21.5%

Income $75,000 or Greater(Household)

30.8% 25.2% +5.6%

Race White 73.5% 70.2% +3.3%African-American 14.5% 27.2% -12.7%American Indian 1.3% 1.1% +0.2%

Asian 0.85% 1.4% -0.55%Hispanic/Latino 3.8% 3.9% -0.1%

Table 9. Comparing Survey Sample Political Leanings to GallupConservative Moderate Liberal

Survey Sample 24.3% 38% 24.7%Gallup (2011) 49.8% 31.9% 13.1%Difference -25.5% +6.1% +11.6%


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Next Steps

Where does this coalition go from here? What kind of governance structure is

needed?

What kind of advocacy agenda does theAFPC want to pursue? Do the demographic issues in the survey

have any impact on how the AFPC shouldmove forward?

How do you use the relationship withacademic institutions to continue to collectdata and create food systems research?

Alabama Food Policy Council: Coalition-Building and Food Policy Activism in the Deep South

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