IATP: the global watchdog in our backyard

Foodservice News
May 21, 2009
By Rebecca Lunna

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Started in a basement in the early 1980s, the IATP has grown to become a leading force in agriculture and trade issues.

I feel a little bit as if I woke up last week and found out that Sustainable Superman worked and fought for good right under my nose, in my little corner of Metropolis. Why? Because here in our own backyard sits one of the richest resources related to the policy and practice of sustainable food, farm and trade systems that youï¿½ll findï¿½the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).

I mean, Iï¿½d heard of them and I knew that the organization and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie (who, given recent recount events, might wish he were back there) were connected in some way, but I didnï¿½t ever delve into what it was that they did until a couple of weeks ago, when I was looking into doing a story about Peace Coffee. As it turned out, this bit of research was just a wee bit providential in terms of timing because the group had just released a paper titled, ï¿½Identifying our Climate Foodprint: Assessing and Reducing the Global Warming Impacts of Food and Agriculture in the U.S.ï¿½

Now, by the time you read this, Earth Day will have come and gone, but where Iï¿½m sitting in the time continuum, itï¿½s happening next week. Plus, again rather auspiciously, the Environmental Protection Agency just declared that carbon dioxide and a handful (five to be precise) of other gases are pollutants that are harmful to public health and welfare, a move that likely signals regulations of those gases stateside. ï¿½Yes,ï¿½ you say, ï¿½but what does this have to do with food?ï¿½ For the answer to that question, weï¿½ll need to head back to the original point: the IATP.

The group formed in the early 1980s, when domestic agricultural policy was entering a sea-change that we are just now beginning to see a small deviation from a quarter century later. Ritchie ran the group out of his basement, galvanizing global action on issues of agriculture and trade, such as GATT, farm policies, fair trade and food security to name just a few. Information is one of the groupï¿½s primary stocks in trade and it publishes papers, makes videos and launches projects at warp speed. Agriculture and climate change. Genetically engineered crops. Corporate farming. Antibiotics in animal production. Sustainable eating. Bam! Pow! Whap!

This is where I sallied forth onto their Web site and read, jaw open like some kind of huckleberry, about the group and stumbled upon the recently published paper. Pile onto that the fact that Iï¿½m reading Mark Bittmanï¿½s ï¿½Food Mattersï¿½ (when Iï¿½m not flying through the four-book ï¿½Twilightï¿½ series, just in case you were starting to think that all I did was read smart stuff) and so the entire topic seems ï¿½ber relevant.

The paper breaks down the impact of food on the climate at every stage: planting or raising, harvesting, processing, shipping, selling, cooking and disposal. An overview of that stepï¿½s equivalent greenhouse gas is followed up by a litany of ï¿½climate-friendly practicesï¿½. There are big things that need to happenï¿½particularly in a high-impact area like agricultural productionï¿½but the most heartening thing to me as I read through the paper is that there are also lots of the things that need to happen that can without a great deal of fuss or botherï¿½and they are things that have been gaining favor with consumers anyway, like consuming more local foods with less packaging or choosing pasture-raised meat and dairy.

The nay-sayers will always have their things to say of course, but there are an increasingly powerful and vocal group of yay-sayers speaking loudly and this paper puts forth solutions that would lessen greenhouse gases and have the lucky strike extra of bringing about more sustainable food and agricultural systems. For more information about the group or to download the paper, visit, iatp.org and rest assured, you sustainable citizens of Metropolis. Theyï¿½ve got your back.

NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for research and educational purposes.

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