That demand is one reason there are now 62 community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs around the city, with locations in every borough, up from just one in 1995. CSAs match upstate farmers with specific distribution points for their produce, where members pick up a package of what’s in season in return for having paid a fee to invest in the farm. Not only does this help to green the so-called “food deserts,” but regional farmers are delivering to 31 food pantries and soup kitchens too, Berger said.
City Council last month announced another advance in the availability of fresh produce to lower-income New Yorkers: The use of food stamps at the city’s Greenmarkets doubled in the first two weeks of July, the peak season, over the same period last year. Shoppers used their Electronic Benefits Transfer cards to spend $4,210 rather than last year’s $2,121 – echoing the total annual increase, with $40,000 spent at EBT-accessible Greenmarkets in 2007, up from $1,000 in 2005. Council Speaker Christine Quinn said in the press release, “This dramatic increase is further proof that New Yorkers are hungry for healthy food options – we need only make those healthy foods available”– which Council helped to do in this case by funding and facilitating the use of EBT cards in 14 locations.
Gund wants the film, and eventual accompanying interactive website, to keep the momentum going toward greater education and change. “I think the effect will be unifying,” she says. In giving the girls guidance before interviews, Gund urged them not to see interviewees as adversaries. Everybody’s gotta eat. “We’re trying to say: Every single person is on our side. We’re all on the same side.”
