Community Supported Agriculture Essay

The documentary Food Inc. is a great example of commercial farming. The purpose of commercial farming is to mass produce food and animals, to feed the community. The concept of commercial farming could also go along food security. The community needs to make sure that there is enough food to feed the growing population at all times. The problem right now isn’t that there isn’t enough food, but rather that there is too much food. The Tyson company produces all kinds of meat to feed people around the country, and when doing so they tend to overproduce. With this overproduction, we are left with expired animals that cannot be produced into food for consumption, and in turn, provide extra parts that aren’t useful or helpful.

This paper will conduct a community assessment of Marion County, Indiana. Marion County is located in the heart of Indianapolis, which is the capital of the state of Indiana. Marion County was created April 1, 1822 and was formed from Delaware New Purchase. It was named after General Frances Marion from South Carolina in the Revolutionary War period. This assessment will address the health needs and risks of Marion County through the use of the WGU assessment forms identifying the population’s economic status, neighborhood and community safety inventory, cultural assessment, and the disaster assessment and planning guide.

Many of the individuals who live within these communities are elderly, immigrants, farmers and migrants. They work and live off their land and lack the needed funds to purchase health insurance, because it is not affordable and they do not have transportation or a way of getting on bus routes, because they live so far out. The nearest local hospital is about 50 miles away and if they get seriously injured they must wait for an ambulance or life flight to arrive with an additional ride of about an hour before they receive adequate care in case of an emergency.

In the United State, there is a federal nutrition program for low income people to help food budget and buy healthy food. People who have low income in the United States get the food stamps, also known as “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)”. For every month, eligible people who have low income get benefits deposited in to their EBT account. Once they get food stamp, people can purchase food items including seeds and plants to grow food in their house or backyard. It can be used at a grocery store, a supermarket, a farmer 's market, and a shelter that serves meals. However, with all these great benefits, people still eat unhealthy because of too much time consuming, limited money, some food dessert area, and the benefits allow people to eat junk food.

Production-based farming has provided small communities a new effective way of farming; however, this type of farming has created more issues than solutions. In "Renewing Husbandry," Wendell Berry discusses the way communities have lost the practice of husbandry in farming to production-based farming. Also, he depicts the side effects production-based farming has on the small communities by demonstrating the loss of connection the farmers now have with the land and community they provide for. Production-based farming destroys the unity of small communities.

The most prevalent ongoing dynamic that encourages the self-exploitation of farmers in the Central Valley is the CSA movement. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is when, “Members support a farm by paying in advance, and in return they receive a share of the farm's produce; members also share in production risks, such as a low crop harvest following unfavorable weather.” While 54% of these farms in California make a profit, 32% and 15% either break even or lose profit. They tend to be more successful than traditional farms in California because they be closer to and cater to wealthy urban areas like the Bay Area who are willing to pay more in support of CSA endeavors, organic products, and local businesses. Also the farms tend to have more white owners and workers and come into their venture with more capital, which enable them to proceed to have successful business plans, a strong voice of advocacy, and higher average gross sales per acre. CSA businesses though

As a student, I have demonstrated many works of service to my community and school. Service opportunities have shaped me into the person I am today and these projects have made me realize how fortunate I am for all that I have. While I've been doing these service projects through the years, it has been a pleasure seeing the joy on the faces of people that aren't as fortunate as I am. Service projects that I have completed include managing the fish booth at the St. Leo's Parish Festival, being an altar server at St. Leo's Parish, helping cook dinner for the Ridgway Fire Department during carnival day setup, participating in the St. Marys Light Up Night by dancing, and Christmas caroling to local residents. I also participated in a zombie/princess

As of 2013, one sixth of the entire country was enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Through this program, 47 million Americans are given federal financial aid to purchase fresh groceries (Plumer). One of the highly debated provisions of the SNAP program is what participants should be allowed to use their food stamps for. As of right now, food stamps can only be used to purchase food that can be cooked or eaten at home, preventing families from spending the federal aid at restaurants (USDA). Recently, the fast food corporation YUM!, which owns Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut, has lobbied to change this restriction (USA Today). Should people benefitting from the SNAP program have the right to spend their money on

Over the last 17 years the number of families actively been served has fluctuated. As of right now, they are serving around 300 families per month. Each month, families are given approximately $100 worth of groceries. A member of each household arrives on either Monday or Friday to pick up their food box. Each week the food box contains bread, dairy, produce and pantry items. The future of Least of the Brethren is looking very bright. Later this month the pantry will be operating their Mobile Market. The Mobile Market is fairly new but has received great feedback. Volunteers will line food up outside the pantry and those in need will simply pull up, each vehicle is then load with an abundance of food. This is the only time families receive more than their monthly allotment of

On August 4, 2015, Vivian Cu and I chose to volunteer at the Second Harvest Food Bank located on 700 Edwards Ave. in New Orleans. Our Tuesday morning of service started at 9AM and ended around 11:30AM. In preparation for my first time at Second Harvest, I wore comfortable clothes that were easy to move around in and that were possible to get dirty in. The man in charge of all volunteer services, Vince, quickly gave me my duty for the day. There is a huge case of canned goods and my job was to put as many canned goods as possible on a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt would carry these cans to many aisles where other volunteers would put them into smaller boxes that had to weigh from fifteen to thirty pounds. After packaging these boxes, Second

Growing up on a small family wheat farm in southwestern Oklahoma, I have experienced the harsh conditions of farming firsthand. The job that used to employ the largest amount of people in the United States has lost the support and the respect of the American people. The Jeffersonian Ideal of a nation of farmers has been tossed aside to be replaced by a nation of white-collar workers. The family farm is under attack and it is not being protected. The family farm can help the United States economically by creating jobs in a time when many cannot afford the food in the stores. The family farm can help prevent the degradation of the environment by creating a mutually beneficial relationship between the people producing the food and nature. The family farm is the answer to many of the tough questions facing the United States today, but these small farms are going bankrupt all too often. The government’s policy on farming is the largest factor in what farms succeed, but simple economics, large corporations, and society as a whole influence the decline in family farms; small changes in these areas will help break up the huge corporate farms, keeping the small family farm afloat.

Living in different countries, we always wonder if everyday life routines are the same. Some of these routines, would include education, social life, and most important of all career perspectives. Rules and procedures vary from the different business you apply to however do the different rules and procedures vary from the countries that business thrive from? The purpose of this essay is to describe the differences and similarities from the National Association of Social Workers and the International Federation of Social Workers.

The agriculture field is one of the biggest employers, employing over 155 million people in the United States. What do you think about when you hear the word “agriculture?” Many people would say farming, but this is not the most common occupation in this field. Farmers make up a fraction of the agricultural jobs at 900,000, but over 2.1 million people own, rent, and claim farming as a primary source of income. The average farm size has dropped from 460 acres in 1990 to 418 acres in 2007, while the average age of this occupation rose to 57, making this one of the older workforces in the United States.

Research is conducted in a variety of different ways using different methods and methodologies. How these methods are used is imperative to how clear and accurate research will be. Community needs assessment is a research method used by many researchers that assists in finding gaps within a particular target group within a particular community. Throughout this paper I will discuss what a community needs assessment is and when and how it is used. I will also discuss some of the strengths and limitations of this method. I then continue to explain some theoretical and practical perspectives when dealing with this method and how it would apply when conducting your own research in a

A challenge that many rural communities are dealing with is the lack of primary care physicians, specialist, understaffed hospitals, and transportation. “Only about ten percent of physicians practice in rural America despite the fact that nearly one-fourth of the population lives in these areas” (National Rural Health Association [NHRA], n.d., para. 2). Although, there are programs designed to improve patients access to hospitals and physicians in rural areas, provider access for these patients remains a barrier. Technology can bridge some of the gaps of care for these patients and it can be beneficial in many ways. With enhanced technology, primary care physicians and patients will be able to have support, access to quality care, improvement in self-management skills, which ultimately, will improve a patient’s health. To assist physicians with delivery of optimal care and for patients to be able to go to scheduled wellness visits with physicians, a new approach to solving rural health barriers are needed.