Our Failing Food System: Promoting Pesticide Resistance.

I stumbled upon this very informational website with it's own section about food and agriculture (link). It's the Union of Concerned Scientists. I think this site is very interesting because it's more applicable to me from a science perspective on the issues about food and agriculture in our society. In that section I stumbled upon the article: "Our Failing Food System: Promoting Pesticide Resistance." Here's the link to the original article: (link)

The article talks about the pitfalls of large-scale industrial farming that uses herbicides. The crops grown by these farmers are genetically engineered to be resistant to the herbicide developed by the same company. While at first effective, it was found that long term use of this herbicide encouraged the development of weeds that were resistant to it. The consequence of this was that once the weeds were resistant, they spread in a manner that could not be controlled. Farmers would then have to resort to using more herbicide and even heavy tilling--both unsustainable practices. The author mentions that the resistant strains could be avoided by alternation of herbicides; however, this practice is not promoted because it effects the financial gain of the company who both genetically modifies crops and produces the herbicides to treat them. Similarly, the situation with pests and pesticides has developed in that pests are becoming more resistant to pesticides. 

I think this article is interesting for a number of reasons. It addresses the issue of genetic engineering crops and the consequences of use of herbicide from a scientific perspective by listing different references and sources to support its claims. I feel like this issue can be applied to any sort of farm--even an urban one--because weeds and pests are not an isolated issue to industrial farms. My garden at home has a pest problem--these tiny pincher bugs keep eating my flowers! UFarmIIT has pests, though I don't believe it's become a problem yet. But the lesson that should be taken away is that practices should be taken to ensure sustainability. These types of farms grow crops on large scale and thus have to resort to large scale solutions to their pest and weed problems which may not always have our health in the best mind. The reason I bring up health is because I like the fact that our farm doesn't use herbicide or pesticides. For the most part, we have natural ways to ward off pests such as planting specific flowers. It's nice to know that food we're growing doesn't have any unwanted chemicals in it. That means our food is healthy and we're healthy.

I saw this in a pin on Pinterest and thought this was a rather neat trick. Here's the link to the source site. But it's a mixture of water, vinegar and some liquid dish soap that creates a weed killer mix. For a small scale farm or garden, this is a pretty easy way to get rid of weeds because every home has dish soap and water. Personally, I don't cook with vinegar, but I'm sure a lot of people other people do. So this could be a solution to weeds. Could large scale farmers use this method? Probably not unless it was executed correctly.

Childhood Hunger: No Kid Hungry

Anyone who knows me well enough knows that I am big advocate of human rights--specifically women and children's rights. I've volunteered at Lurie's Children's Hospital downtown for almost a year now in two very different departments: school services and the emergency department. I'm an active supporter for three philanthropies: the S. June Smith Center, Girls On The Run, and the Special Olympics. I also sponsor a child in the Philippines through Children's International. I care about kids a lot and I believe that everyone should have some sort of social responsibility to the children in our society.

When I started this IPRO and we were assigned the first required readings, I was very excited because the articles assigned to us talked about the social impact that community gardens/urban agriculture projects can have on a community. Our urban farm should not just be about "Are we able to maintain and grow produce?" or "Are we able to get the UFarm name out there?"; our urban farm's purpose should be "How can our urban farm make a social impact in our society, or even our local community?" Once a purpose is solidified, it's easier for a project to be developed. A purpose, in my opinion, is something that our IPRO lacks; and, that's just my opinion, so don't roll your eyes at me.

Doing a random Google search, I stumbled upon this website: No Kid Hungry (NKH) and started to peruse it's website. My original intention in doing a Google search was to find an article regarding social impact on hunger. I think coming across this website was a better find for me.

The website has a lot of resources for various groups to become involved in ending childhood hunger. Some of these groups include: the press, policy makers, corporations & foundations, educators, parents, and chefs & restaurants. It provides people with educational content on many different aspects on this issue of hunger such as its basic facts to its impact on a child's development. There are various programs for people to become involved as well to help families that face this issue of hunger.

Being the curious person that I am, I entered the zip code "60616" to see if there were anyways someone around the IIT area could become involved. (Disclaimer: I commute from a farther area code and just used 60616 as a reference point). I was honestly surprised that there weren't more opportunities to combat childhood hunger only because the Chicago-land area has quite a few low-income neighborhoods that I could see benefiting from NKH Programs. I did find this one opportunity rather interesting:

I have yet to watch the webinar, only because I am writing this up at work, but I do intend to watch this. It might be interesting because it could provide a way for our IPRO to become involved with the social issues of our community. A good question to ask when deciding to become involved in a social issue is "Is there a need in my community that necessitates me to be involved with this issue?" Most times, I find myself answering this question with an enthusiastic "Of course," because I like to think I can change the world despite only affecting a small portion of the world's population. But the fact of the matter is, even if I can't change the world, my involvement may impact someone else's world and in the end that's all that matters to me.

So, is there a need in my community that necessitates me to be involved with this issue? The answer is yes. Chicago recently decided to close 50 public schools (link) and one of the many consequences of this decision will be the overcrowding of schools where these children have been relocated to; not to mention the economic costs that it will have on families to simply get their children to school. Most of the schools closed were in low income neighborhoods. Ensuring that children have access to food could potentially have a positive impact on a child's performance in school. Especially with the change in schools, Chicago children need every resource possible to be as successful as they can be. Removing hunger from the picture can help children be more focused in school especially in a time such as this one.

This could be a way our IPRO can become more involved with the community at large and have purposeful give-a-ways for the produce we harvest. I will edit this post after I watch the webinar.