Join the Food Fight!
Did you know that there is one federal bill that affects the food you eat, health, renewable energy, farms, the environment, the economy, immigration, and world hunger?

It’s called the Farm Bill. And together, we can make it work better for everyone!

The day after the SLEE dinner…..

Join us for a community Farm Bill Workshop
& Kick-off the formation of the Seattle Farm Bill Action Group!
Sunday August 8, 4-6:30 pm, potluck following

Workshop Description:  Through interactive activities participants will learn about how the Farm Bill affects them personally and create a vision for the Farm Bill we want!  Guest speakers Ben Burkett, Sue McGann and John Fawcett-Long will help participants understand the basics of the Farm Bill, its impacts on farmers, communities and consumers in WA state, and the struggles to improve the Farm Bill in 2008, including what lessons we can learn from these past efforts to be more effective in 2012.

About the speakers: Ben Burkett is a 4th generation Mississippi Farmer, President of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives and the National Family Farm Coalition, and involved in the international movement of farmers and farmworkers, La Via Campesina. CAGJ invited him to Seattle to give the keynote at our annual dinner on August 7, Strengthening Local Economies Everywhere.  John Fawcett-Long has been a long-time advocate organizer for a sustainable and justice food and farming system.  He was raised on a farm in southwestern Minnesota and moved to Seattle in the mid-80s.  He has served as Director of the Western Sustainable Agriculture Working Group and on the Steering Committee of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture.  He is a co-founder of the Washington Sustainable Food and Farming Network.  John served as a key grassroots food and farming organizer in 1999 for the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle. Sue McGann is the Coordinator of Marra Farm, historic preserved farmland in South Park.  A project of Lettuce Link – Solid Ground, Marra features a model urban community farm engaging people in sustainable agriculture and education while enhancing local food security. Sue coordinates the Giving Garden which generates tons of fresh, organic produce every year that is donated to a nearby food bank.

(more…)