At the American Royal

Meeting the Need for Innovation in American Food Systems

Good Food & Good Health Conference - March 2-3, 2010

AR Board members and business leaders meet to discuss Good Food.

Good Food – Good Futures is an alliance of Kansas City-based farmers, food retailers, healthcare and information technology professionals, educators, civic leaders, employers and entrepreneurs who come together out of a belief that good food and good futures are strongly linked.  The alliance brings together collaborative expertise from the farm, food retailing, information technology and healthcare sectors to innovate practical solutions to common problems in the food system.  The alliance recognizes that the good food movement that is occurring across the country will not take its fullest form without focused leadership, successful business models, innovative supply chain models, increased food system capacity, policy support, and practical education for producers, retailers and consumers.  The alliance believes the best way to alter a community’s future is to change the food landscape from one that supports obesity, heart disease, diabetes, hunger and malnutrition, to one that supports the economic, ecologic and personal health of the community and its citizens.

Good Food – Good Futures operates out of an underlying belief that pieces are in place in the Kansas City community to position it to become a de facto demonstration project that will influence a national shift toward good food systems.  The ability for Kansas City to create this legacy is a strong motivating factor for the alliance’s civic and business leaders. 

Some Disturbing Facts about Food and Healthcare

• The $2.3T U.S. Healthcare system is growing at an unsustainable rate.  Healthcare spending growth has outpaced the rest of our economy for 40 years, and it is on pace to double in the next 10 years, at which time spending will exceed 20% of our overall GDP.
  
• The healthcare costs of people with chronic diseases like heart disease, hypertension, cancer and diabetes account for more than 75% of the nation’s medical care costs. 
  
• Obesity is a prime cause of many of these same chronic conditions; likewise, the nutrients in food play a strong role in preventing or treating many other chronic conditions.
  
• Estimates of the number of obese American adults and children have been rising steadily for more than a decade.  Obesity among children more than doubled over a 20-year period.  The rate among adolescents more than tripled during the same period.
  
• Today 62% of American adults are either overweight or obese.  Only 37% of American adults are at a healthy weight.