If you're in the Kansas City area and haven't found a new "station" broadcasting, you might want to check 103.7 FM tomorrow. It'll definitely set the mood for St. Patrick's Day, as it's broadcasting music to celebrate the holiday. However, you don't want to leave it on too long, as the playlist is repeating every hour or so.
The signal (K279BI) is a 250-watt rebroadcast of content now airing on a digital subchannel of Cumulus' classic rocker KCFX. This is the first I've heard of a translator (the legal term for a low-power rebroadcast of another station's signal) rebroadcasting a digital-only feed; however, I suspect it might becoming increasingly common as stations seek to draw more attention (read: listeners and revenue) to their digital services.
Of course, the folks at Cumulus, fast enjoying higher ratings at many of their stations from the Arbitron's new Portable People Meter system, will have to roll something else out Thursday.
16 March 2010
11 March 2010
International Response to KCMSD's School Closures
And right now, the top story on education on most international media's radar isn't yesterday's 5-4 vote to close 29 of the 61 schools currently in the Kansas City (Mo.) School District #30. It's a Mississippi high school's decision to cancel their prom, potentially in response to a request from a student to bring their lesbian girlfriend to the dance and show up in a tuxedo. In fact, the BBC, Daily Telegraph, as well as Canada's Globe and Mail and Toronto Star have yet to post a story about the situation in KCMSD.
Meanwhile, two major British papers have carried the story. The Guardian featured a commentary from liberal think-tank fellow Sasha Abramsky of New York, where he describes the situation in KC as the event schools in California want to avoid. He writes: “Kansas City might well represent a glimpse of a depressing American future: one in which those with resources opt out, en masse, from any and all public services, leaving the public sector to stumble drunkenly from one crisis to the next, a miserable-looking shadow of once-great glories.”
The Murdoch-owned Times published a straight-forward brief from their Washington correspondent.
If you find any articles in international press (even if it's a rehash of wire copy), please feel free to comment with a link to it.
Meanwhile, two major British papers have carried the story. The Guardian featured a commentary from liberal think-tank fellow Sasha Abramsky of New York, where he describes the situation in KC as the event schools in California want to avoid. He writes: “Kansas City might well represent a glimpse of a depressing American future: one in which those with resources opt out, en masse, from any and all public services, leaving the public sector to stumble drunkenly from one crisis to the next, a miserable-looking shadow of once-great glories.”
The Murdoch-owned Times published a straight-forward brief from their Washington correspondent.
If you find any articles in international press (even if it's a rehash of wire copy), please feel free to comment with a link to it.
08 March 2010
Ruminations upon the loss of a distinctive voice
Editor's note: issues with the built-in player resulted in the wrong sound clip loading up for some readers. The player has since been replaced with a link to the correct sound clip. Apologies for any confusion.
You've probably heard this voice on multiple adverts and Stations IDs, particularly if you've lived in the Kansas City area:
The man behind the voice, Richard Ward Fatherley, died today in a KCK hospital after suffering a heart attack a month ago. Fatherley came to the Kansas City area in the 1960s to become programming director of Top-40 giant WHB. That, along with his start at WHB's cross-state sister KXOK in St. Louis, gave him the chance to perfect his voice into the consummate radio salesman. When Fatherley retired from radio, he began his own voice-over company, AdVoice. National brands like Baskin Robbins and Simplicity Vacuum Cleaners hired Fatherley to provide his distinct, booming voice for their ads.
Not only was Fatherley a gifted producer and salesman, he too was a historian in his trade. Along with Ray Otis, a fellow former program director, Fatherley researched, wrote and produced an hour-long audio documentary into the role WHB owner Todd Storz played in developing and proliferating Top-40 radio. As Fatherley summarized in Radio's Revolution:
As part of this ongoing endeavour, Fatherley built a tribute site to WHB and helped establish the Great Plains Radio Symposium at Kansas State University in 2006.
In a roundabout way, it was because of Fatherley's work as a historian and not a producer that attracted me to radio. I came across his work in the fall of 2005, when I was working on a research paper about WHB. I made use of materials Fatherley sent to Truman upon hearing of my project, including a hard copy of Radio's Revolution. As I dug into this material, and other Web sites such as Reel Radio, I found myself drawn more and more into the unique craftwork that is radio production.
By trade I'm a journalist, a current events junkie, rooted in newsprint from as far back as wanting to be on the junior high newspaper in 8th grade even though it was a freshmen-only class. But hearing this production by Fatherley, and other clips he uploaded, lured me away from the grind of weekly print deadlines and into the land of overheated equipment rooms, strung-out wires, and outdated cart-playing software crashing on me every fortnight. Fatherley extended an invite to me to the first symposium in April 2006, but a death in the family prevented me from attending, and thus I never had the chance to meet him.
I'll remember Richard Fatherley, not just as a great voice and radio professional, but also as a historian who preserved the stories of his colleagues and provide an insight into how radio evolved into what it is today in North America. And for that, I say thank you to "our Fatherley friend".
You've probably heard this voice on multiple adverts and Stations IDs, particularly if you've lived in the Kansas City area:
The man behind the voice, Richard Ward Fatherley, died today in a KCK hospital after suffering a heart attack a month ago. Fatherley came to the Kansas City area in the 1960s to become programming director of Top-40 giant WHB. That, along with his start at WHB's cross-state sister KXOK in St. Louis, gave him the chance to perfect his voice into the consummate radio salesman. When Fatherley retired from radio, he began his own voice-over company, AdVoice. National brands like Baskin Robbins and Simplicity Vacuum Cleaners hired Fatherley to provide his distinct, booming voice for their ads.
Not only was Fatherley a gifted producer and salesman, he too was a historian in his trade. Along with Ray Otis, a fellow former program director, Fatherley researched, wrote and produced an hour-long audio documentary into the role WHB owner Todd Storz played in developing and proliferating Top-40 radio. As Fatherley summarized in Radio's Revolution:
“[Top-40] germinated in the heartland – Omaha – moved quickly down the Mississippi Valley, was perfected in Kansas City, and copied from coast-to-coast. The Storz formula for a successful radio station became the antidote to combat television's raid on radio's revenues.”
Fatherley's account of Storz's contribution, including the story that disproved the fable involving the barroom jukebox in Omaha, would ensure Storz' place in history as the man whose innovations would catch on in Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, and even prompt the BBC to debut Radio 1 and Radio 2.As part of this ongoing endeavour, Fatherley built a tribute site to WHB and helped establish the Great Plains Radio Symposium at Kansas State University in 2006.
In a roundabout way, it was because of Fatherley's work as a historian and not a producer that attracted me to radio. I came across his work in the fall of 2005, when I was working on a research paper about WHB. I made use of materials Fatherley sent to Truman upon hearing of my project, including a hard copy of Radio's Revolution. As I dug into this material, and other Web sites such as Reel Radio, I found myself drawn more and more into the unique craftwork that is radio production.
By trade I'm a journalist, a current events junkie, rooted in newsprint from as far back as wanting to be on the junior high newspaper in 8th grade even though it was a freshmen-only class. But hearing this production by Fatherley, and other clips he uploaded, lured me away from the grind of weekly print deadlines and into the land of overheated equipment rooms, strung-out wires, and outdated cart-playing software crashing on me every fortnight. Fatherley extended an invite to me to the first symposium in April 2006, but a death in the family prevented me from attending, and thus I never had the chance to meet him.
I'll remember Richard Fatherley, not just as a great voice and radio professional, but also as a historian who preserved the stories of his colleagues and provide an insight into how radio evolved into what it is today in North America. And for that, I say thank you to "our Fatherley friend".
26 February 2010
On a visit to the EU Parliament by Kanye West
You would think apparitions of an attention-hoarding rapper would be non-existent in Benelux. But sure enough, some version of Kanye West made an appearance, whether he liked it or not, on Wednesday when former UKIP leader Nigel Farage went on a lengthy tirade against the president of the EU, former Belgian prime minister Herman Van Rompuy. (The full tirade on YouTube, courtesy of UKIP.)
While evoking Kanye's crass, stage-crashing abilities, Farage compared the first president of the EU to a low-grade bank clerk and called him a quiet assassin of European nation-states. Included in his tirade was a slam on Belgium as a whole, saying that it was a non-country aimed to make all of Europe a place where nation-states ceased to exist. It is widely expected that Farage will be reprimanded for this speech, at most a 10-day suspension.
The Eurosceptic icon is no stranger to controversy in Belgium. Most notably in February 2008, when Prince Charles addressed the EU Parliament on Climate Change, Farage drew attention for refusing to applaud his future head of state at the end of his speech.
However, Farage's barrage on the 62-year-old Belgian wasn't just for the sake of getting free publicity in his campaign to unseat Commons Speaker John Bercow in his Buckinghamshire constituency this spring. Officials in France and Germany, the continent's two major economic engines, have complained about Van Rompuy over-stepping his authority in dealing with the economic crisis in Greece and declaring himself the point man for all European nations in discussions involving G20 nations.
Such a trampling, if accurate, coincides with Britain's Baroness Ashton, the EU's new number two role as High Representative, essentially letting the current president of the European Commission, Spain's José Manuel Barroso, impose himself as the EU's ambassador to the United States. All the while, Ashton, Barroso and Von Rompuy are suppose to represent the collective foreign interests of 27 nations, not just the establishments that not only meet in Brussels but also in Strasbourg once a year for the sake of appeasing the French.
This huge mess might make for an interesting rap by Kanye, if "Golddigger" isn't sufficient for Eurosceptics' tastes.
While evoking Kanye's crass, stage-crashing abilities, Farage compared the first president of the EU to a low-grade bank clerk and called him a quiet assassin of European nation-states. Included in his tirade was a slam on Belgium as a whole, saying that it was a non-country aimed to make all of Europe a place where nation-states ceased to exist. It is widely expected that Farage will be reprimanded for this speech, at most a 10-day suspension.
The Eurosceptic icon is no stranger to controversy in Belgium. Most notably in February 2008, when Prince Charles addressed the EU Parliament on Climate Change, Farage drew attention for refusing to applaud his future head of state at the end of his speech.
However, Farage's barrage on the 62-year-old Belgian wasn't just for the sake of getting free publicity in his campaign to unseat Commons Speaker John Bercow in his Buckinghamshire constituency this spring. Officials in France and Germany, the continent's two major economic engines, have complained about Van Rompuy over-stepping his authority in dealing with the economic crisis in Greece and declaring himself the point man for all European nations in discussions involving G20 nations.
Such a trampling, if accurate, coincides with Britain's Baroness Ashton, the EU's new number two role as High Representative, essentially letting the current president of the European Commission, Spain's José Manuel Barroso, impose himself as the EU's ambassador to the United States. All the while, Ashton, Barroso and Von Rompuy are suppose to represent the collective foreign interests of 27 nations, not just the establishments that not only meet in Brussels but also in Strasbourg once a year for the sake of appeasing the French.
This huge mess might make for an interesting rap by Kanye, if "Golddigger" isn't sufficient for Eurosceptics' tastes.
24 February 2010
Lines being drawn & Washington's not part of it
As the newest dispute over control of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) makes it way onto the floor of the United Nations, it's been made clear who won't have any part of it: the United States.
It will be reported in tomorrow's edition of The Times that the Obama Administration will not endorse British sovereignty over the contested islands off the coast of Argentina, instead saying that the US only recognises the current, de facto British administration. This, save Reagan's support for British forces to reclaim the Falklands during the 1982 conflict, reaffirms the position US administrations have stated since Britain first assumed control of the islands in 1832.
For those thinking that this position might help the US re-curry support from the nations of Central and South America: don't count on it. This past weekend, as members of the Rio Group met in Cancún, Mexico, to coalesce their support for Argentina's claim to sovereignty over the Falklands, South Georgian and Sandwich islands, that group announced plans to devise a stronger bloc that could possibly supplant the Organization of American States. This bloc, tentatively named La Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños, or Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, would include the membership of every member of the OAS except the US, Canada, and Suriname. This includes two members of the Commonwealth, Belize and Guyana. Although foreign affairs officials from both the Rio Group and the US say that this new bloc would not replace the OAS, rhetoric from certain leaders, including Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Mexican president Felipe Calderon, might suggest otherwise.
As Rio Group leaders turn up the pressure on the UK to enter negotiations, initial drilling for oil continues 100 miles north of the Falklands. And the island's population, so say British ministers, are staunchly in favour of remaining under the Union Jack. All the while, all we're getting from the White House Press Secretary are his ruminations as a newbie to Twitter.
It will be reported in tomorrow's edition of The Times that the Obama Administration will not endorse British sovereignty over the contested islands off the coast of Argentina, instead saying that the US only recognises the current, de facto British administration. This, save Reagan's support for British forces to reclaim the Falklands during the 1982 conflict, reaffirms the position US administrations have stated since Britain first assumed control of the islands in 1832.
For those thinking that this position might help the US re-curry support from the nations of Central and South America: don't count on it. This past weekend, as members of the Rio Group met in Cancún, Mexico, to coalesce their support for Argentina's claim to sovereignty over the Falklands, South Georgian and Sandwich islands, that group announced plans to devise a stronger bloc that could possibly supplant the Organization of American States. This bloc, tentatively named La Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños, or Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, would include the membership of every member of the OAS except the US, Canada, and Suriname. This includes two members of the Commonwealth, Belize and Guyana. Although foreign affairs officials from both the Rio Group and the US say that this new bloc would not replace the OAS, rhetoric from certain leaders, including Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Mexican president Felipe Calderon, might suggest otherwise.
As Rio Group leaders turn up the pressure on the UK to enter negotiations, initial drilling for oil continues 100 miles north of the Falklands. And the island's population, so say British ministers, are staunchly in favour of remaining under the Union Jack. All the while, all we're getting from the White House Press Secretary are his ruminations as a newbie to Twitter.
23 February 2010
Coalition collapse sparks appreciation of another coalition
Much has been written about the missions and sacrifices made by American and British troops in Afghanistan the past eight years, making every strident effort to root out Taliban insurgents and bring peace between rival tribal factions. What hasn't been heralded in the English-speaking press as much are the same contributions and sacrifices other nations have made in Afghanistan, assisting the US & UK through NATO.
One nation's such contributions have just come to light as their government, asked by NATO commanders to extend their mission past July 2010, has collapsed over whether or not to do so.
Over the weekend, the coalition government of Netherlands, led by centre-right prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, dissolved following the mass resignation of 12 ministers from the Dutch Labour Party. As a result, parliamentary elections are set to occur in June. This coalition government (Balkenende's fourth as prime minister) lasted three years, established when Balkenende's Christian Democratic Appeal aligned with Labour and the centre-left ChristianUnion over his previous, more conservative, coalition partners Democrats66 and People's Party for Freedom for Democracy.
The Dutch currently have about 1400 troops stations in the Afghan province of Uruzgan, bordered on the south by Kandahar. Along with 480 Australian soldiers and Afghan military and civilian officers, the Dutch-led task force has maintained peace in the central province for almost four years. In the process, they've lost 21 soldiers, most notably Dennis van Uhm, the son of the Chief of the Netherlands Defence Staff, General Peter van Uhm. Dennis' death occurred one day following Peter assuming his current post.
At least 25 nations are involved in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. For the US-led effort to root out terrorism, lay the groundwork for a more empowering life for all Afghans, and continue to win their hearts, it's important to not only build and maintain a coalition, but recognize all components of it when credit's due. I suspect most American and British readers aren't aware that hunkered down with British support teams in Helmand are 750 Danish and 150 Estonian troops, or that assisting the German-led reconstruction teams around the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif are 175 Latvians. Even the Republic of Georgia, just 18 months after Russian forces invaded the contested regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, plans to increase their numbers in Afghanistan from 150 to 1000. And Turkey, while hesitant to increase their troop levels alongside the US surge, maintains a force of 1700 troops training Afghan police officers in and around the capital Kabul.
For anyone who regularly includes the American and/or British soldier in their daily prayers, I would ask that soldiers from the various countries that make up this coalition be included as well. For the largest aspects of a coalition to succeed, its smaller components must too be supported and lauded.
As for Balkenende's future, while I do not profess to know a lot about Dutch politics, I find it doubtful that he will not be called on by Queen Beatrix to form a new coalition government this summer.
One nation's such contributions have just come to light as their government, asked by NATO commanders to extend their mission past July 2010, has collapsed over whether or not to do so.
Over the weekend, the coalition government of Netherlands, led by centre-right prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, dissolved following the mass resignation of 12 ministers from the Dutch Labour Party. As a result, parliamentary elections are set to occur in June. This coalition government (Balkenende's fourth as prime minister) lasted three years, established when Balkenende's Christian Democratic Appeal aligned with Labour and the centre-left ChristianUnion over his previous, more conservative, coalition partners Democrats66 and People's Party for Freedom for Democracy.
The Dutch currently have about 1400 troops stations in the Afghan province of Uruzgan, bordered on the south by Kandahar. Along with 480 Australian soldiers and Afghan military and civilian officers, the Dutch-led task force has maintained peace in the central province for almost four years. In the process, they've lost 21 soldiers, most notably Dennis van Uhm, the son of the Chief of the Netherlands Defence Staff, General Peter van Uhm. Dennis' death occurred one day following Peter assuming his current post.
At least 25 nations are involved in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. For the US-led effort to root out terrorism, lay the groundwork for a more empowering life for all Afghans, and continue to win their hearts, it's important to not only build and maintain a coalition, but recognize all components of it when credit's due. I suspect most American and British readers aren't aware that hunkered down with British support teams in Helmand are 750 Danish and 150 Estonian troops, or that assisting the German-led reconstruction teams around the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif are 175 Latvians. Even the Republic of Georgia, just 18 months after Russian forces invaded the contested regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, plans to increase their numbers in Afghanistan from 150 to 1000. And Turkey, while hesitant to increase their troop levels alongside the US surge, maintains a force of 1700 troops training Afghan police officers in and around the capital Kabul.
For anyone who regularly includes the American and/or British soldier in their daily prayers, I would ask that soldiers from the various countries that make up this coalition be included as well. For the largest aspects of a coalition to succeed, its smaller components must too be supported and lauded.
As for Balkenende's future, while I do not profess to know a lot about Dutch politics, I find it doubtful that he will not be called on by Queen Beatrix to form a new coalition government this summer.
19 February 2010
Chants of "Drill Baby Drill!" echo down Whitehall
Perhaps instead they're chanting "¡Perfore, bebé, perfore!"
British and Argentine officials are again butting heads over who controls the Falkland Islands, this time because of the prospect of considerable oil reserves off the coast of the two islands. As a British firm has established an oil rig about 100 miles north of the contested islands, Argentine president Cristina Fernandez has ordered checks on all ships approaching the Falkland Islands.
Argentina has claimed sovereignty over the islands, which they call Islas Malvinas, and held them for two months in 1982 before British forces drove them out in a highly anticipated and reported response, resulting in the combat deaths of 650 Argentinians and 250 Britons. Argentina has re-asserted its claims to sovereignty over the continental shelf area stretching from its shores, which would wholly encompass the 200-mile British claim around the Falklands as well as the South Georgia and Sandwich islands, 600 miles to the southeast. These claims will be brought up before a meeting of the United Nations next week.
Both Britain and Argentina have made claims to the islands for almost 200 years, claims which are both supported by key economic allies. While the status of the Falklands was included in the recently enacted Treaty of Lisbon, the new governing document of the European Union, Argentina's claim was renewed when they established a democratic constitution in 1994, claims which have been supported by their two continental unions, Mercosur and the Union of South American Nations.
And caught in the middle, potentially, is the US. During the last conflict, the US maintained an official stance of neutrality. While a NATO ally (led by Reagan's good friend Margaret Thatcher) was attacked, to openly support them would have gone in the face of the Monroe Doctrine and the Organization of American States, headquartered in Washington. (It was later revealed that the US provided tacit support for British intelligence operations.) More recently, the US joined the rest of the OAS in supporting Argentina's call for negotiations with the British over the status of the islands.
This is a sticky situation that does have the potential to make global economic recovery even tougher. Argentina's threats to bar British companies from doing business in their country, with the potential support from Hugo Chavez and other leftist leaders in South America, could further weaken the Sterling in international markets. There lies the risk, however absurd and self-defeating the concept, that if this becomes heavily politicised or even come down to military action, several South American nations may boycott the 2012 Olympics in London. (Ironic considering that the UK refused to withdraw from the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, instead competing under the Olympic flag.)
This is a foreign affairs powderkeg that cannot be taken lightly, and should be watched closely over the coming weeks.
British and Argentine officials are again butting heads over who controls the Falkland Islands, this time because of the prospect of considerable oil reserves off the coast of the two islands. As a British firm has established an oil rig about 100 miles north of the contested islands, Argentine president Cristina Fernandez has ordered checks on all ships approaching the Falkland Islands.
Argentina has claimed sovereignty over the islands, which they call Islas Malvinas, and held them for two months in 1982 before British forces drove them out in a highly anticipated and reported response, resulting in the combat deaths of 650 Argentinians and 250 Britons. Argentina has re-asserted its claims to sovereignty over the continental shelf area stretching from its shores, which would wholly encompass the 200-mile British claim around the Falklands as well as the South Georgia and Sandwich islands, 600 miles to the southeast. These claims will be brought up before a meeting of the United Nations next week.
Both Britain and Argentina have made claims to the islands for almost 200 years, claims which are both supported by key economic allies. While the status of the Falklands was included in the recently enacted Treaty of Lisbon, the new governing document of the European Union, Argentina's claim was renewed when they established a democratic constitution in 1994, claims which have been supported by their two continental unions, Mercosur and the Union of South American Nations.
And caught in the middle, potentially, is the US. During the last conflict, the US maintained an official stance of neutrality. While a NATO ally (led by Reagan's good friend Margaret Thatcher) was attacked, to openly support them would have gone in the face of the Monroe Doctrine and the Organization of American States, headquartered in Washington. (It was later revealed that the US provided tacit support for British intelligence operations.) More recently, the US joined the rest of the OAS in supporting Argentina's call for negotiations with the British over the status of the islands.
This is a sticky situation that does have the potential to make global economic recovery even tougher. Argentina's threats to bar British companies from doing business in their country, with the potential support from Hugo Chavez and other leftist leaders in South America, could further weaken the Sterling in international markets. There lies the risk, however absurd and self-defeating the concept, that if this becomes heavily politicised or even come down to military action, several South American nations may boycott the 2012 Olympics in London. (Ironic considering that the UK refused to withdraw from the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, instead competing under the Olympic flag.)
This is a foreign affairs powderkeg that cannot be taken lightly, and should be watched closely over the coming weeks.
16 February 2010
Task force proposal could put grapevines on 18th & Vine
A bill with wide-ranging support in the Missouri House of Representatives would establish a task force that would explore the possibility of building vertical urban farms in Missouri's major cities.
House Bill 1848, introduced by Democrat Jason Holsman of Kansas City, aims to explore the viability of vertical urban farms in Missouri by way of establishing a 15-member task force.
“It’s really designed to take what we believe is going to be a very positive impact for the community and do the research and gather the information necessary so that way we’re not just saying that it’s going to have an impact,” Holsman said in an interview Tuesday.
The 15-member task force would include among its members the director of agriculture, agriculture committee chairmen from both the House and Senate, a representative from the University of Missouri extension service, and people who are actively involved in sustainable communities. This task force would meet over the course of two years to determine whether such farms could appear on the streets of Kansas City and St. Louis.
“We know this technology exists. We’ve seen the conceptual designs of what’s possible. We know the potential and the benefits associated with that potential,” Holsman said. “But what we don’t know is if we were to subsidize this, if we were to incentivize it, what is the impact to rural agriculture? What does it do to the locations around where we would put an urban farm?”
Holsman said he became interested in urban farms through two chance encounters. First, he received from a constituent a copy of an article in Popular Science magazine describing the technological advances and potential benefits of urban farms. More recently, Holsman and his family explored a conceptual urban farm when visiting Disney's EPCOT Center in Florida.
The 2008 Popular Science article reports that vertical urban farms can run on electricity generated from solar, wind, and sewage. Various fruits, vegetables, and even small animals such as chickens can be grown and harvested in such a strictly climate-controlled facility.
Smaller versions of urban farms already exist in inner cities and can include farmers’ markets and organic and horizontal farms. Holsman said that an urban farm could feed 50,000 people in a metropolitan area.
“The majority of food that’s consumed in Kansas City travels from the coasts. That’s 1400 miles of transit that your peas have to go through,” Holsman said. “They have to be preserved, they have to be put on a frozen truck, they have to be pre-packaged. There’s all sorts of carbon footprint associated with each step of that process to get that food to our table.”
For produce to be consumed locally, it would need to be sold locally.
Ruth Comer, assistant vice president for media relations with Hy-Vee Food Stores, said that each of their stores is granted leeway to stock shelves with local produce, as it is the Iowa company’s goal to source as much from local producers as possible.
She says urban farms would be something Hy-Vee would take a look at, but it would need to meet two criteria.
“The challenges that we run into for a company of our size is first, quantity and consistency of supply from local growers,” Comer said. “Do they on a large enough scale that they can meet our demands and do that on a consistent basis? The second is food safety assurances, just making sure that they have the protocol in place and the record-keeping that they can assure the safety of the food as it passes along the food chain.”
Comer said they are very interested in working with local growers that meet those two criteria.
Holsman adds that building urban farms would not only reduce environmental impact from transportation, but also reduce the use of pesticides and develop self-sustainable energy sources for the facility.
He said this also would create jobs in the inner city that can’t be outsourced.
“If you build a 12-story vertical farm, you're creating inner city jobs that don’t currently exist,” Holsman said. “You’re improving the property values around this farm because now it’s turning a blighted area, a vacant building that was sitting without any revenue in it at all, and now you’re producing food out of it, you’re creating jobs and you’re helping the surrounding areas around it.”
HB1848, which features 48 co-sponsors, has yet to be assigned to a committee. However, Holsman said he has verbal assurances from House Speaker Ron Richard (R-Joplin) that it will be assigned and from Majority Floor Leader Steve Tilley (R-Perryville) that should the bill pass through committee, it will receive time on the floor for debate.
Holsman says he looks forward to fighting hard for the bill and believes urban farms are the future of food production.
“The more we can learn about what that future looks like, the better prepared we are as decision makers to help create that future and make sure it goes in a direction that’s going to be beneficial for the environment, that’s going to be beneficial for the economy, and that’s going to be beneficial for the constituents we represent,” Holsman said. “Producing our own food and doing it in an energy efficient way is the right direction.”
House Bill 1848, introduced by Democrat Jason Holsman of Kansas City, aims to explore the viability of vertical urban farms in Missouri by way of establishing a 15-member task force.
“It’s really designed to take what we believe is going to be a very positive impact for the community and do the research and gather the information necessary so that way we’re not just saying that it’s going to have an impact,” Holsman said in an interview Tuesday.
The 15-member task force would include among its members the director of agriculture, agriculture committee chairmen from both the House and Senate, a representative from the University of Missouri extension service, and people who are actively involved in sustainable communities. This task force would meet over the course of two years to determine whether such farms could appear on the streets of Kansas City and St. Louis.
“We know this technology exists. We’ve seen the conceptual designs of what’s possible. We know the potential and the benefits associated with that potential,” Holsman said. “But what we don’t know is if we were to subsidize this, if we were to incentivize it, what is the impact to rural agriculture? What does it do to the locations around where we would put an urban farm?”
Holsman said he became interested in urban farms through two chance encounters. First, he received from a constituent a copy of an article in Popular Science magazine describing the technological advances and potential benefits of urban farms. More recently, Holsman and his family explored a conceptual urban farm when visiting Disney's EPCOT Center in Florida.
The 2008 Popular Science article reports that vertical urban farms can run on electricity generated from solar, wind, and sewage. Various fruits, vegetables, and even small animals such as chickens can be grown and harvested in such a strictly climate-controlled facility.
Smaller versions of urban farms already exist in inner cities and can include farmers’ markets and organic and horizontal farms. Holsman said that an urban farm could feed 50,000 people in a metropolitan area.
“The majority of food that’s consumed in Kansas City travels from the coasts. That’s 1400 miles of transit that your peas have to go through,” Holsman said. “They have to be preserved, they have to be put on a frozen truck, they have to be pre-packaged. There’s all sorts of carbon footprint associated with each step of that process to get that food to our table.”
For produce to be consumed locally, it would need to be sold locally.
Ruth Comer, assistant vice president for media relations with Hy-Vee Food Stores, said that each of their stores is granted leeway to stock shelves with local produce, as it is the Iowa company’s goal to source as much from local producers as possible.
She says urban farms would be something Hy-Vee would take a look at, but it would need to meet two criteria.
“The challenges that we run into for a company of our size is first, quantity and consistency of supply from local growers,” Comer said. “Do they on a large enough scale that they can meet our demands and do that on a consistent basis? The second is food safety assurances, just making sure that they have the protocol in place and the record-keeping that they can assure the safety of the food as it passes along the food chain.”
Comer said they are very interested in working with local growers that meet those two criteria.
Holsman adds that building urban farms would not only reduce environmental impact from transportation, but also reduce the use of pesticides and develop self-sustainable energy sources for the facility.
He said this also would create jobs in the inner city that can’t be outsourced.
“If you build a 12-story vertical farm, you're creating inner city jobs that don’t currently exist,” Holsman said. “You’re improving the property values around this farm because now it’s turning a blighted area, a vacant building that was sitting without any revenue in it at all, and now you’re producing food out of it, you’re creating jobs and you’re helping the surrounding areas around it.”
HB1848, which features 48 co-sponsors, has yet to be assigned to a committee. However, Holsman said he has verbal assurances from House Speaker Ron Richard (R-Joplin) that it will be assigned and from Majority Floor Leader Steve Tilley (R-Perryville) that should the bill pass through committee, it will receive time on the floor for debate.
Holsman says he looks forward to fighting hard for the bill and believes urban farms are the future of food production.
“The more we can learn about what that future looks like, the better prepared we are as decision makers to help create that future and make sure it goes in a direction that’s going to be beneficial for the environment, that’s going to be beneficial for the economy, and that’s going to be beneficial for the constituents we represent,” Holsman said. “Producing our own food and doing it in an energy efficient way is the right direction.”
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