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2004 Conference Calls

January 22, 2004: Federal Policy: Taking the Long View At the SAFSF December Forum funders expressed interest in clarifying and moving forward a collective agenda on federal food and agriculture policy over the next 20 years. We identified the 2007 Farm Bill as a key opportunity to 'shake the tree' enough to open the way for substantial change over the long haul. Think there is plenty of time before the next Farm Bill?  Think again. The nutrition title is already being substantially shaped through the Child Nutrition Act. Funder education, research to support advocacy, and the development of a politically effective organizing strategy should all begin now. Many of our groups have started the dialogues necessary to build collaboration and we, as funders, should do the same. Join this call and help us begin to define our long-term policy goals and strategize around ways to support powerful change through the 2007 Farm Bill.
March 1: Mad Cow Disease and Linkages Between Animal Health, Human Health, and Food Safety RSVP:      to hefn@aol.com   A special funders' call on March 1 will examine this emerging area of concern and consider possible philanthropic responses.  Joining us as a guest speaker will be Stanley B. Prusiner, M.D., Director of the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of California - San Francisco.  Dr. Prusiner won a Nobel prize in 1997 for his discovery of the prion, a novel pathogen. Prions ('pree-ons') are infectious proteins that cause neurodegenerative diseases such as mad cow and chronic wasting disease.    Prusiner and others attempted to sound an alarm about the imminent prospect of an outbreak of mad cow disease in the US.  Their calls for strengthened food safety regulations and practices initially were rebuffed but are being seriously revisited in the wake of recent developments.      This call, chaired by Michael Lerner, President of the Jenifer Altman Foundation, is being co-sponsored by four funder groups with a shared interest in the public and environmental health challenges and food safety opportunities represented by the current mad cow crisis.  (There is no funder group, to our knowledge, focused directly on food safety).  The cosponsors are:   * The Funders Forum on Antibiotic Resistance (email Catherine Porter at cjporter@igc.org); * The Funders Network on Trade and Globalization (email Mark Rand at mark@fntg.org);  * The Health and Environmental Funders Network (email Kathy Sessions at hefn@aol.com); and * The Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders (email Virginia Clarke-Laskin at   vclarke@ega.org).
March 16: Federal Ag Policy: The Time is Ripe! The second in a series of ongoing strategy calls to gauge and build on the interest that funders have in distinct and interrelated aspects of food and farm policy. The focus is building momentum for substantial changes in the Farm bills of 2007, 2012, and beyond. We're operating from collective funder interest in determining the logical and feasible steps to take this year and lay groundwork for subsequent years.
Food Safety Issues Funders Conference Call Thursday, April 15, 2004 10 a.m. Pacific/12 noon Central/1 p.m. Eastern   Moderator: Ruth Hennig, Executive Director, The John Merck Fund   The industrialization of food production, including genetic engineering, factory farming and global transport, increasingly raises concerns about food safety.  Several foundations active on those issues have recently expressed an interest in creating opportunities for more active communication and engagement.      SAFSF will host this initial call for all funders interested in discussing these issues and the ways and means through which such opportunities for funders might be created.
July 13: Toxic Contaminants Toxic Contaminants Tuesday, July 13, 2004 10 a.m. Pacific/12 noon Central/1 p.m. Eastern   Moderator: Becca Golden, Executive Director, Ben & Jerry’s Foundation   Confirmed Speakers: Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation; 'Overview: Why All The Fuss About Foodborne Disease?'     Carol Tucker Foreman, former USDA Undersecretary and Food Policy Director at Consumer Federation of America, 'Holes In the Food Safety Net'  (selected policy illustrations)   Karen Taylor Mitchell, Executive Director of Safe Tables Our Priority (S.T.O.P.), a victim-founded group spearheading national policy reform and awareness efforts; 'Building a Consumer Movement: Opportunities for Action'   Description: One of the least understood sustainable agriculture problems in the U.S. is the public health impact of toxic pollution in our food supply. Infectious diseases systemically transmitted via food sicken 76 million, hospitalize 325,000 and kill more than 5,000 Americans every year. Foodborne illness is the source of more than 2 million long-term health problems each year, and children, the elderly, and the economically disadvantaged are the hardest hit.  Few people realize that toxic contaminants in our food are the leading cause of acute kidney failure in American children.  And the daily failures of our food safety net only emphasize the potential disasters of bioterrorism and BSE.   Yet most foodborne illnesses could be prevented by concerted action along a food-safety continuum that includes cleaner food production, reasonable risk management strategies, and a stronger health response to foodborne disease. However, the World Health Organization, which cites foodborne disease as one of today's top global health challenges, states that one of the main barriers to a safer food supply is the lack of organized public awareness and demand for reform.   Speakers on this call will provide an overview of the scope and impact of the problem and will cite some specific examples of current failing policies and ideological approaches to illustrate the need for reform.  This will be followed by a description of existing change instigators and initiatives and a discussion of ways in which the philanthropic community could participate with maximum impact.