Danielle Bilotta is a senior at the University of Vermont and the CDAE Strategic Communications Intern

For the last two years UVM faculty have been working on research to support a possible excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in Vermont. CDAE faculty members Richard Watts, Jane Kolodinsky, and Sarah Heiss have been researching various issues related to the potential penny-per-ounce tax. Thanks to a few grants, surveys, and a lot of hard work, the team has been able to refute claims from naysayers, help make the policy process more transparent to the public, and encourage advocates to change their ways in order to help pass the bill.

Jane Kolodinsky: 

CDAE department chair and professor Jane Kolodinsky became involved in this research in 2011 because of her interest in food choice, obesity and her work as an applied economist and survey researcher. After being contacted by Peter Sterling, the founding Executive Director of the Vermont Campaign for Health Care Security Education Fund, the two collaborated to receive a Robert Wood Johnson Grant to collect the data they needed.

Opponents of the bill—Kolodinsky refers to them as “naysayers”—claim that adding a tax to sugar-sweetened beverages would put Vermont stores out of business, especially near the New Hampshire border. The problem with this claim is that there is no published data to support it, Kolodinsky said.

To address these concerns nonetheless, cross-border questions were added in their survey analysis. Ultimately, their research showed there would be no additional effects along the border.

“If you think about it logically, I go to the gas station, fill up my car, and I want a single serving of something…I’m going to get in my car and drive to New Hampshire? No,” she said. “I’ll probably use at least 50 cents in gas just to save 13 cents. It just doesn’t make sense.”

In order to prove consistency with these results, questions about the sugar-sweetened beverage tax will be added to this year’s Vermonter Poll, conducted by UVM’s Center for Rural Studies, which examines changes in public opinion regarding Vermont-specific issues.

Kolodinsky believes looking at larger health policy decisions and the issue of health policy is both important and salient for many CDAE students.

“If you’re a PCom major, it shows you how to communicate to the public,” Kolodinsky said. “For entrepreneurship majors, they have to make their business stocking decisions in their stores, so how does it affect their store and what are they going to sell? And for community and international development majors, it’s looking at societal issues of which obesity is not only a U.S. issue anymore: It’s around the world.”

Richard Watts:

With an interest in studying important public policy, Richard Watts’ began his research on this issue in Spring 2011.

“I’m interested in how public policy emerges through the legislative process,” Watts said. “In this case, the public policy issue has to do with soda, which has been implicated in our obesity crisis.”

Opposition comes from three primary groups, Watts said: the Grocers Association, the Vermont Retail Association and beverage industry lobbyists. He hopes to show that all three oppose the bill because they fear losing profit if it becomes law.

“I’m collecting media articles, he said, “trying to see who shows up in the media articles and what those debates are about.” Watts said. “Part of what I’m interested in trying to do is to open up a process and make it more transparent, so people can see how they’re being manipulated by the industry to drink these things that are very bad for them,” he said.

Watt’s research compares the fight to previous debates about taxing tobacco for health reasons, but he said it’s harder to make a direct correlation between sugar-sweetened beverages and obesity.

“The thing about tobacco is that we had 30 years of evidence, and it took that long to show those causal relationships in such a compelling way,” he said.

Watts will continue to work on this research by following Vermont legislative decisions and, if they are successful, write about why efforts are succeeding here and not elsewhere in the country.

Sarah Heiss:

CDAE professor Sarah Heiss, who wrote her Ohio University PhD dissertation on how sweeteners and their risks are presented to the public, was recruited by Watts to take part in the sugar-sweetened beverage research two years ago, shortly after interviewing for a position in CDAE.

Watts and Heiss approached the policy issue from several directions thanks to a Food Systems Grant. Part of their research examined how sugar-sweetened beverage policies are portrayed in Vermont media.

In fall 2011, Heiss proposed a grant to collect similar data from other states. Because most states have not been successful in proposing a sugar-sweetened beverage tax, she decided to focus on New York in order to make a two-state comparison.

“What we’re finding is both Vermont media and advocates, and New York media and advocates, really don’t have a solid grasp over the last ten years of what the problem was,” she said.

Heiss and Flynn want to encourage bill advocates to make changes in their tactics to ensure success.

“The advocates should organize, have one voice in solidarity, and have a clear problem and solution that they can articulate,” Heiss said.

Heiss’ interest in the organizational and communicative practices that give rise to successful policy is what drives her to continue this research, she said.

“What I’m about promoting is critical consumption,” Heiss said. “I see this project on sugar-sweetened beverage tax as informing critical consumption, because I’m helping the public see what’s going on so that they can make an informed decision about what to consume.”

Erica Letson is a UVM Food Systems graduate who currently works as an Americorps member for Bronco Urban Gardens in Santa Clara, CA as a Garden Education Coordinator.

After studying abroad in Oaxaca, Mexico during my sophomore year at UVM, I knew I wanted a career in sustainable food systems. Throughout my time in Mexico, I saw firsthand the negative effects globalized agriculture has on developing countries, but even more importantly I saw how small scale farming could really help bring communities together. There is one instance in particular which took place in a small village outside of Oaxaca City during one of my homestays. As a community project, a group of women from this village decided that we would all plant trees as a way of preserving the deteriorating landscape in the area. This one day, we planted over 30 different trees. Although this reforestation project would only affect this small community, I was really moved by the grassroots efforts that these women had taken to help better their village. This opportunity really changed the way I viewed social justice, and helped to facilitate my career choices in the future.

After this experience, I made a point to become more involved with the local food issues in my community and began interning for the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) of Vermont as an outreach intern. During my time with NOFA, I worked on a project that measured the economic benefits several farmers’ markets have on their surrounding communities. As a part of this study, I worked directly with farmers’ market managers and vendors to coordinate each evaluation. This was a great opportunity to get to know other members of Vermont’s local food network. I also started taking more classes related to sustainable agriculture, such as permaculture, agroecology, and soil science. These classes, along with many others, have helped me to develop a well-rounded environmental background, offering both social and scientific perspectives.

Each of my education and internship experiences have helped prepare me for the job I’m in now. I am working as an Americorps member for the Silicon Valley Health Corps at a nonprofit organization in Santa Clara, CA, called Bronco Urban Gardens. As a Garden Education Coordinator, I work directly with community members and create relationships with parents and teachers to gain support for our organization and the schools we work with. In addition, I teach elementary school children in at risk communities the basics of gardening and nutrition. I am designing and planning a new garden at one of the schools I teach for as well. This job has been extremely rewarding and I have gained a lot of experience learning how to effectively run an education program. I have learned that my passion is to work with children and teach them about food and environmental issues. I attribute my education at UVM for helping me choose this path, and I am very grateful for the opportunities I have had thus far.

V. Ernesto Méndez is Associate Professor of Agroecology and Environmental Studies Agroecology and Rural Livelihoods Group (ARLG), Department of Plant & Soil Science and Environmental Programs at the University of Vermont

The field of agroecology has recently received increasing attention from a variety of stakeholders, including academics, policy-makers, development practitioners and farmers and their organizations. The roots of agroecology can be traced to the 1930s. In its original conceptualization, agroecology sought to integrate ecological concepts and principles to the design and management of agricultural systems. However, as interest in the field has grown, debates as to what it really means have emerged. I recently guest edited the inaugural special issue of the re-titled journal Agroecology and Food Systems (formerly Journal of Sustainable Agriculture), with my colleagues Chris Bacon and Rose Cohen, which will be open access for a limited time. Through this compilation of papers we tried to differentiate between different types of agroecologies, and to make a case for an agroecological approach that is grounded in transdisciplinarity, participatory action research and an interest in transforming existing agrifood systems. This may seem wordy to some, but it is worth teasing out the meaning of these terms and reflecting on their importance. We perceive transdisciplinarity as an approach that integrates different academic disciplines, as well as non-academic knowledge (e.g. experiential, cultural), and which is problem-oriented. Participatory action research seeks to bring together researchers and non-researches in an iterative process that includes investigating, reflecting and acting. Finally, by transformative, we mean that we are interested in changing the pervasive political economic structures responsible for a deteriorating agrifood system model.

The University of Vermont (UVM) and the state of Vermont are ideal places to have these conversations. Since my arrival to UVM in 2006 I have seen important strides in research and action related to improving agrifood systems from farm to plate. These include the formation of the Food Systems Spire, the launching of the new master’s program in food systems and the establishment of practical offerings such as the farmer apprentice program, as well as the continuation of outstanding extension programs related to sustainable agriculture. From my end, I have sought to establish an agroecological program, grounded on participatory action research and service learning education. Our activities range from food security work in Latin America to offering semester-long, as well as study abroad and international agroecology offerings during the summer. Outside of UVM, Vermont exemplifies a state committed to attaining a more sustainable food system. This ranges from the many farmers that are working hard to produce while taking care of the land, to landscape scale endeavors like the Intervale, as well as state-wide initiatives such as Farm to Plate and the Vermont Working Landscape Partnership.

Agroecological conceptualizations go beyond academic jargon. They are the result of an evolution of agroecological thought that draws not only from the knowledge of researchers, but also the farmers, extensionists, processors, retailers and consumers that make up the agrifood system. They open the door for a research practice done in partnership with agrifood system stakeholders, which embraces the interrelated social, economic and cultural challenges that we face if we are to transform our currently broken agrifood system to a more sustainable one. Doing this type of research and the action that stems from it is challenging. First and foremost, it requires that both researchers and non-researchers partners prioritize working and communicating with each other.  Agroecology can provide a platform for this, but the first step is recognition that resolving our current agrifood system issues requires a respectful and action-oriented dialogue between all the different players, from farm to plate.

Timothy Gillis Sheble-Hall is a senior at the University of Vermont who is studying food systems. He grew up on a sheep farm in Dover, MA.

Photo from a workshop on Mushroom Production that Timothy attended

The UVM campus was teeming with farmers and foodies this weekend as it hosted the annual NOFA-VT (Northeast Organic Farming Association) Winter Conference. Almost one thousand folks from all over New England, some from even greater distances, came together to teach, learn, and build connections around the issue of food. Workshops took place Friday, Saturday, and Sunday covering topics related to the technical aspects of farming and gardening, food access, GMO labeling, nutrition, food preservation, and much more.

Our current food system is rife with challenges, and events such as the NOFA Winter Conference are crucial steps in overcoming those challenges. The conference brought together folks from all different spectrums of the food system: farmers, gardeners, chefs, nutritionists, consumers, activists, and politicians.

A memorable workshop that featured folks from many of these spectrums was one entitled “Micro Dairies: The Future of Sustainable Dairy Production.” The presenters of this workshop did a great job detailing the specifics of micro dairying, but it was the dialogue between everyone in the room that made the workshop truly special. Throughout the workshop almost everyone contributed, whether it was the aspiring farmer who stimulated discussion with questions about proper feed and grazing requirements, or the experienced farmers who answered with stories of their own, or the grassroots organizer from Rural Vermont who contributed with information about raw milk policy that needs change, or the elder farmer who stressed the importance of raw milk farmers and consumers working together to affect political change, “Raise hell, that’s what you’ve got to do,” he said. The workshop was truly collaborative experience, and went along with the theme of the weekend “Generations of Innovation.”

The conference ended on the sweet notes of live blue grass music and Strafford Farm ice cream. I went home that evening with a smile on my face, a yearning for farming in my heart, and two words deeply imprinted in my mind: community and power. When the organic farming community comes together as we did for the NOFA-VT winter conference, we wield enormous power. The power to farm better, the power to distribute more equally, and the power to enact more desirable legislation.