Hunger and Democracy in Boulder County: Crops and Food Security

Richard Andrews an environmental engineer scientist and organic  farmer from Boulder County says that for the community to really grapple with food insecurity, it needs to take a look at our local agriculture.

“Right here in this County, we are fortunate to have public space publicly own agriculture land and yet the government both City and County differ to the farmers, who lease the land, to let them choose what to grow and instead they should impose because they are growing crops that are negative in the terms of public health and food insecurity and we could do better and we should do better”.

Andrews says that a lot of the food grown locally is not actually used for food, and this is contributing to the overall problem.

“Much of corn that is grown in this county and it is agree that is gone to local uses, but those uses goes much of the corn goes not to making food but it goes into making ethanol is not feeding people.”

Rich Andrews spoke with KGNU’s Rossana Longo Better after a screening of the movie “A Place at the Table” hosted by the League of Women Voters of Boulder County as part of their series Hunger and Democracy in Boulder County.

The next event in the series is on Saturday , November 18th, 2:30pm to 4:30, at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Boulder.

The panelists include:

• Terri Livermore, Food Systems Policy Director with Live Well Colorado
• Liz Rowland, Food Bank Manager at the Emergency Family Assistance Association (EFAA)
• Lindsey Loberg of Boulder Food Rescue
• Kathy Underhill, CEO of Hunger Free Colorado
• Alison Brisnehan, Boulder County Dept of Housing and Human Services

Rossana Longo Better is the KGNU/League of Women Voters Boulder County public policy/media intern.

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