There is a growing awareness that it is important for us to have easier, cheaper, healthier access to fresh fruit and vegetables.  Yet another example of this is a bill that has been filed in the U.S. House called the Greening Food Deserts Act by Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio that is meant to increase the supply of fresh produce in American's cities.  The bill, H.R. 4971, has the following stated purpose:

To increase the emphasis on urban agricultural issues in the Department of Agriculture through the establishment of a new office to ensure that Department authorities are used to effectively encourage local agricultural production and increase the availability of fresh food in urban areas, particularly underserved communities experiencing hunger, poor nutrition, obesity, and food insecurity, and for other purposes.

The bill will:

• Establish an Office of Urban Agriculture within the USDA, to encourage urban agriculture, increase local food production and sales, create “sustainable food systems” to eliminate the shortage of fresh food, and create a link between urban agriculture, food stamps, and the school lunch program.
• Authorize up to $20 million in grants and loans to organizations working to foster urban agriculture. Note, though, the phrase “up to.” That means $20 million could be $10 million, or zero, depending on what the Appropriations Committee ultimately decides.
• Add to the fund already established to give cash vouchers to seniors for use at farmers’ markets, which helps both low income seniors and farmers. Provide infrastructure-building loans to farmers’ markets. Require the agriculture census taken every five years to collect data on farmers’ markets and their impact on the communities they serve.
• Pay an extra 20% per school-served meal to schools that teach students to plant and maintain vegetable gardens, and serve food grown in those gardens in school lunches. The present subsidy per school lunch is $2.68. At that level, the reward would be 53 cents per lunch.
• Authorize a pilot program of “sustainability grants” that will encourage food banks and other feeding programs to show low income people how to grow foods in backyard plots and community gardens, and to process and sell the food they grow. It would also provide extra food stamps for families that grow fruits and vegetables.

Hat tip to Rural Votes