CDPHE Withdraws from Food Day
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) has pulled it’s support of Food Day in response to the outcry from CFB and other Ag groups. In a meeting with CFB staff, Dr. Chris Urbina, the head of CDPHE said he was surprised at the strong reaction from CFB over the Food Day issue and committed to ending his agency’s support for the program. CDPHE has removed their name from the partnering sponsors list and has stopped distributing National Food Day materials.
Dr. Urbina also assured CFB that CDPHE is not aligned with nor believes in the radical agendas of the National Food Day and other organization partners to it.
“This is a win for Colorado agriculture,” said Troy Bredenkamp, Executive Vice President of Colorado Farm Bureau. “While on the surface, the Food Day initiative appears wholesome, many of the event’s organizing groups hold a true disdain for modern agriculture. We are thankful that Dr. Urbina and CDPHE chose to side with Colorado’s farmers and ranchers and not activists groups.”
Earlier this year, CDPHE had lent its support to Food Day, an initiative that supposedly highlighted healthy eating, but used the platform to attack modern Ag production. Much of the content published by the organizers pushed negative stereotypes and myths about agriculture. The initiative is being pushed by the Center for Science in the Public Interest along with many other anti-agriculture groups.
Can you be more specific about the negative stereotypes and myths about agriculture that is part of Food Day. I am not understanding what the problem is. Thank you
Ben,
Essentially everything on Food Day’s website under the goals of “support sustainable farms…” and “protect animals..” is misinformation used by environmentalists, and animal rights activists and is by no means objective and has nothing to do with increasing healthy eating. I could go point by point here, but it would take up too much of everyone’s time. Suffice it to say that an otherwise good program got christmas-tree’d with a bunch of activist misinformation from folks who know nothing about modern agricultural production and have a clear bias against anything but organic production.
While there is a place for organic agriculture, there is also a place for conventional production; something lost on the Food Day organizers. The CDPHE agrees and subsequently pulled their support for the cause.