The Future of Food - You or Me?

I had the opportunity to attend The Future of Food 2013 at the Washington Post on behalf of dairy farmers across the country. My husband and I are slowly learning our way back into my family's dairy farm. I say slowly, because it's a huge financial investment to become a dairy farmer, both financially and in education of the day-to-day tasks, learning about the cows, and working with people. Milking cows, feeding calves and assisting with other farm work has become a major part of our lives once again. It's a lot of work - but completely worth it. It feels good to introduce myself as 'a dairy farmer' again.

This year's Future of Food theme was 'Building a Sustainable Food System'. Last year's theme was 'Food Security for the 21st Century,' and this is a perfect succession to me, because in order to build food security, we need to be sustainable farmers. To be sustainable farmers, we need technology and support from you - the eater.

Since I was tweeting through the entirety of the event (follow me on Twitter: @amsjost), it was easy to look back for the most important nuggets of the session:

1. Kids want and need healthier foods - this includes dairy, fruits, veggies and proteins. 

2. The US spends a mere 10% of their income on food - less than any other country - why are we complaining about expensive food? 

3. Hunger can only be solved by growing your own food. It's not about growing enough food (currently, that will change in the next 30 years), but simply - getting it to the right places at the right time. Simply? Unfortunately not.

A book could be written on the above three comments and I wish I had the skill/time to do so, but there is somewhat of a simple answer to this. Learn how to cook. 

Fuel Up to Play 60 kids learning about a balanced meal from @VictorAlbisu using MyPlate

The ability to cook/bake your own food opens up the doors of appreciating ingredients. Once you get past that phase, you'll want to know where those ingredients came from. Great! Get out on a farm and find out. Our doors are open. If getting out on a farm does not interest you, then I encourage you to ask questions. Refer to sites like Dairy Makes Sense that are supported by the experts when it comes to food production - America's farm families - like mine!

The future of food depends not just on the farmers, but on you - the other 98% of the country (US-only). How will you help the next generation in terms of food?

A food truck - literally. There are a lot of people who never realize how/where food is grown - this shows them how in the middle of Washington DC.