[Scpg] Obama wants to set up White House farmers market | Grist

[Wesley Roe and Santa Barbara Permaculture Network]

http://www.grist.org/article/2009-08-20-obama-wants-to-set-up-white-house-farmers-market/

President Obama said on Thursday that he and the First Lady are looking
into setting up a farmers market just outside the White House, which
might sell food from the White House garden or from local farmers. The
president said it could give the city of Washington, D.C., "more access
to good, fresh food, but it also is this enormous potential
revenue-maker for local farmers in the area."

Obama mentioned the idea while answering a citizen question at a
health-care forum; here's the transcript:

Q. I have a two-part question. One is choice, the choice that we make to
eat the foods that we eat and the lifestyle that we choose to engage in.
And the second part, your family is very fit. What do you and the First
Lady and the girls do to encourage physical fitness, and what can we-not
the government, not private corporations-do to encourage activity in the
public-school system and in young people?

A.* PRESIDENT OBAMA: * Well, this-this is a great question. Look,
if-this is an interesting statistic. If we went back to the obesity
rates that existed back in the 1980s, the Medicare system over several
years could save as much as a trillion dollars. I mean, that's-that's
how much our obesity rate has made a difference in terms of diabetes and
heart failure and all sorts of preventable diseases.

And so what we want to do is to first of all, in health-care reform, in
the legislation, encourage prevention and wellness programs by saying
that any health-care plan out there has to provide for free checkups,
prevention and wellness care. That's got to be part of your deal, part
of your package. And that way nobody's got an excuse not to go in and
get a checkup.

Now, even if we do all that-and there are a lot of-there are a lot of
businesses out there that, on their own, are already providing
incentives to their employees. Safeway, for example, is a company that
has given financial incentives to employees to make sure that they are
taking care of theirselves (sic) and getting regular checkups and
mammograms and colonoscopies and so forth. And it has saved them a lot
of money in terms of their premiums.

So there's a-there's a financial incentive for a lot of businesses to
get in the business of prevention and wellness.

But you're absolutely right that, even if we've got legislation, even if
companies are encouraging it, part of what we also have to do, though,
is teach our children, early, the importance of health. And that's-that
means that all of us have to, in our communities, in our places of
worship, in our school systems, encourage nutrition programs, provide
young people outdoor activities that give them exercise.

And Michelle and I always talk about the fact when-when we were kids,
during the summer, you know, basically, mom just said, "See ya!" after
breakfast. You were gone. (Laughter.) You might run in, get some lunch,
go back out, and you wouldn't be back till dinner. And that whole time,
all you're doing is moving.

Now, unfortunately, times have changed. Sometimes, safety concerns
prevent kids from doing that. Sometimes, there are a lot of kids just
don't have a playground. Little leagues may be, you know, diminished.
That means that, you know, we as adults in the community may have to
provide more and more outlets for young people to get the kind of
exercise that they need.

When it comes to food, one of the things that we are doing is working
with school districts. And the child nutrition legislation is going to
be coming up. We provide an awful lot of school lunches out there
and-and reimburse local school districts for school-lunch programs.
Let's figure out how can we get some fresh fruits and vegetables in the
mix. Because sometimes you go into schools and-you know what the menu
is, you know? It's French fries, Tater Tots, hot dogs, pizza and-now,
that's what kids-let's face it, that's what kids want to eat, anyway
(Laughter.) So it's not just the schools' fault.

A, that's what kids may want to eat. B, it turns out that that food's a
lot cheaper, because of the distributions that we've set up. And so what
we've got to do is to change how we think about, for example, getting
local farmers connected to school districts, because that would benefit
the farmers, delivering fresh produce, but right now they just don't
have the distribution mechanisms set up.

So, you know, Michelle set up that garden in the White House?

One of the things that we're trying to do now is to figure out, can we
get a little farmers' market-outside of the White House-I'm not going to
have all of you all just tromping around inside-(laughter)-but right
outside the White House-(laughter)-so that-so that we can-and-and-and
that is a win-win situation.

It gives suddenly D.C. more access to good, fresh food, but it also is
this enormous potential revenue-maker for local farmers in the area.
And-and that-those kinds of connections can be made all throughout the
country, and-and has to be part of how we think about health.
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