Food and Farming Visit! the brand new Faithful Harvest Campaign section of the website! We are called to be stewards of God’s creation, to keep and to tend the garden. Few choices make a larger impact on creation than the decisions you make about what you eat. Eating is an expression of your faith! Farm policy in the United States is extraordinarily complex, and when it comes to issues surrounding agriculture it’s difficult to separate one from another. Worker justice becomes environmental justice becomes environmental integrity becomes nutrition becomes access to healthy foods becomes world hunger. It can be overwhelming! Luckily, for a person of faith, it is easy to simplify – Do no harm to God’s glorious creation! From this foundation, follows the tenets of a faith-driven food ethic: Honor the goodness creation Demand justice for producers Provide access to healthy food to all of God’s children Faith Resources The National Catholic Rural Life Conference boldy proclaims: Eating is a Moral Act! This site is a treasure of information and reflection on what Christian teachings tell us about eating. Food As Sacramental is the introductory essay to the anthology, Food & Faith, edited by Mike Schut, Education Director at Earth Ministry. This is an excellent, accessible, and compelling essay on the intersections of food and faith. Sacred Foods Project is an interfaith effort to promote the marketing and production of food in accordance to religious teachings. Check out their wonderful Resources section. Just Eating? Practicing Our Faith at the Table is a powerful resource of the Presbyterian Hunger Program that examines five key aspects of our relationship with food using Scripture, prayer, and stories. People of Faith Take Action: Success Stories Farmers' Markets - Rose City Park Presbyterian Church of Portland, OR hosts the Hollywood Farmers' Market every Saturday morning. The market previous operated in the parking lot of a bank, but when the bank extended operating hours to include Saturdays this valuable community resource was in need of a new home. If you have interest in using your church space for a market, please contact info@nccecojustice.org! Community Supported Agriculture - Community United Church of Christ in Champaign, Illinois bought three shares from a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm and distributes fresh and local food to local social services organizations every week. Click here to read an article about how Community UCC became involved in CSA. Community Gardens - Click here to read an article that originially appeared in Disciples Today about three different congregations and their approaches to community gardens. What We Can Do Make a strong effort to eat locally produced food – seek out your community’s farmers markets and look into Community Supporter Agriculture (CSA). Local Harvest and Sustainable Table can help you find local food options. Buy certified organic and sustainably raised foods whenever possible. Use the Eat Well Guide to find sustainably raised meat. Ask your local institutions – churches, supermarkets, schools, hospitals, etc. – to buy from local producers and provide organic options. The Community Food Security Coalition operates Farm to School and Farm to College programs that outline the steps to creating institutional change. Support Farm Bill reform that allows small producers a place in the market and drives federal aid to family farmers instead of the largest producers. NCC Eco-Justice is collaborating with American Farmland Trust and over a hundred other organizations in the Farm and Food Policy Project to shape the 2007 Farm Bill. Learn More For background information on the Farm Bill, specific Title and programs, and the Farm Bill process, visit the Farm Bill Primer courtesy of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture. The Center for Rural Affairs, the Minnesota Project, the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and many other organizations have excellent resources on rural community development and sustainable farming practices. For more about organic foods, visit the Organic Consumers Association. To learn how Community Supported Agriculture works, visit the CSA section of Local Harvest.