The Food Fix

Julia Primavera Kuntz is the engagement manager of Western Michigan University. This means that she deals with a lot of the fundraising and other things related to that for the institution.

But one day in 2014 led her to create a food bank that is dedicated to providing important necessities for students.

Listen to how Julia and her co-workers made that happen.

By Gloria Nzeka

Hunger is on the rise. The number of undernourished people in the world has increased in the last three years, according to a new report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture organization.

The situation is worse in most regions of Africa where 21 percent of the continent’s population do not get enough food to eat.

Agricultural Economist and Researcher from Nigeria, Wellington Osawe, discusses how implementing the right agricultural policies can help alleviate hunger in Africa.

By Lizzy Lafave

As we've previously covered on the Food Fix, migrant workers make up a large portion of the labor pool for dairy farms across the state.

Dr. Reuben Martinez is a Professor Sociology at Michigan State Univeristy. Martinez spoke about the impact these workers have on the state's food and economy.

By Evan Kutz

In part our series on the intersections of food and race, The Food Fix spoke with Shane Bernardo, a long-life Detroiter and community organizer working in Detroit’s grass roots food movement to bring culturally relevant foods to minority communities.

Shane grew up working in his family's small, ethnic grocery store in Westside Detroit, where they worked to cultivate a safe, nurturing environment for the Asian, African and Afro-Caribbean community to purchase culturally relevant foods and share recipes, traditions and rituals linked to these foods.

As a result, Shane developed a heightened awareness of social and economic conditions within a racially, ethnically and culturally stratified Detroit.

Now, Shane works for a number of grass roots organizations, such as Detroit Food Justice Task Force, Uprooting Racism: Planting Justice, The People’s Platform Detroit and Equitable Detroit Coalition.

Recently, Shane’s been speaking at different public forums, focusing on how important food is for health, healing and spirituality.

As the son of first generation Filipino immigrants, Shane speaks about the cultural and spiritual connection with food that his family and many other immigrant families have lost.

By Lauren Caramagno.

Lina Yamashita is a doctoral candidate at the University of California Davis. As part of her research, Yamashita is teaching consumers where their food comes from and how to spend their dollars on sustainable and fair food practices.

We caught up with Yamashita to talk about this work, and how to teach consumers the politics of their food.

By Hannah Holliday

In 2012, the Good Food Purchasing Program in Los Angeles began to transform how public institutions bought food.

It focused on improving local economies, environmental sustainability, workforce, animal welfare and nutrition.

We spoke with Joann Lo who chaired the Los Angeles Food Policy Council which created the program. It now has campaigns in major cities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio and Illinois.

By Gloria Nzeka

In an expanding global food market farmers need every edge they can get, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Regis Chikowo from Michigan State University is trying to use fertilizer sparingly based on rainfall trends across the continent.

Because of their cost, farmers that save on fertilizers might be able to feed more people.

The jackfruit is a large tree borne fruit that has been cultivated in southeast Asia for centuries.

However, in the past few years jackfruit has caught on in western markets. The fruit’s texture and ability to be take on almost any flavor has made it a hit with vegetarians.

Upton’s Naturals is a food outlet based in Chicago. They sell jackfruit in a variety of recipes and flavors, from Barbeque to Thai curry.

Nicole Sopko is the Vice President at Upton’s Naturals. We talked about jackfruit, vegetarian markets and much more.

By Gloria Nzeka

In The Gambia in West Africa, there’s a non-profit that is teaching young people the agricultural and entrepreneurial skills to be successful farmers.

Reporter Gloria Nzeka caught up with Ebrima Nije from Startup Incubator Gambia to talk about their work.

By Max Johnston

Farms across the Midwestern United States are being forced to shut down and in some cases leave crops rotting in the field because farmers can’t fill open jobs.

According to one story, asparagus growers in Michigan lost over a million pounds of product in 2013 alone, due to labor shortages.

Stephanie Mercier is a principal at Agricultural Perspectives, a Washington DC-based consulting firm. She says that immigration laws are preventing Midwestern farmers from filling jobs, and that’s keeping food off the table.

In the immigration debate, voices from southern states like California, Nevada and Texas are often the loudest. But Midwestern farmers also rely on immigrant labor and have entirely different labor needs.

The problem? No one seems to be listening.

We talked about Midwestern crops, President Trump’s immigration plan and much more.