Food Deserts: Jennifer Bushman Of Kvarøy Arctic On How How They Are Helping To Address The Problem of People Having Limited Access to Healthy & Affordable Food Options
An Interview With Martita Mestey
Expand programs through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits so that more farmers markets and online ordering can be utilized within the program.
In many parts of the United States, there is a crisis caused by people having limited access to healthy & affordable food options. This in turn is creating a host of health and social problems. What exactly is a food desert? What causes a food desert? What are the secondary and tertiary problems that are created by a food desert? How can this problem be solved? Who are the leaders helping to address this crisis?
In this interview series, called “Food Deserts: How We Are Helping To Address The Problem of People Having Limited Access to Healthy & Affordable Food Options” we are talking to business leaders and non-profit leaders who can share the initiatives they are leading to address and solve the problem of food deserts.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Jennifer Bushman.
Jennifer Bushman is the Chief Strategy Officer for Kvarøy Arctic. For more than two decades, she has worked within the sustainable seafood community creating relationships between the aquaculture community, NGO’s such as Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, food banks and access programs. She has been recognized numerous times by the James Beard Foundation and the International Association of Culinary Professionals. In addition to the Marine Mammal Center, she sits on various ocean advocacy boards including Ocean’s 2050 founded by Alexandra Cousteau.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I started out with a cooking school in my home in 1991. It was at a time in our culinary history when time in the kitchen was considered time wasted. I wanted to bring greater awareness to what the journey through the kitchen could mean to families, their health and well-being.
I grew up with a mom that had a long history in food and food production. A third generation family ranching in rural Colorado selling all of what they raised in a general store in a small town called Laird. It was on that ranch that I fell in love with my first fish. It was where I began to understand the power that fish and seafood could bring to a community.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
The most interesting moment since I began my career was the action that followed a conversation I had with Alf-Goran Knusten, Kvarøy Arctic CEO. Kvarøy Arctic’s back story is that it is a third generation family farm on a remote island in the Arctic Circle. They have farmed salmon at scale for longer than any family owned company in the world. We believe that the purpose for our being is in the community of 80 people that we serve on our island. This conversation created a chain of well being from this remote island to communities throughout the U.S.
First, we agreed to establish a program of giving through social media influencers throughout the U.S. This has led to donations totaling 1,500–4,000 pounds of frozen salmon fillet per week in the U.S. Food banks and communities across the country continue to have access to lean protein that they may have never had before. This inspired other fish and seafood farmers, such as Pacifico Aquaculture to join us.
Second, we escalated our efforts to produce product lines from the off-cuts of our fish. In and of itself, this may not seem that groundbreaking. But when you are a company that produces one of the most sustainable salmon in the world and the largest supplier of farmers salmon to Whole Foods Market, you are acutely aware of the fact that not everyone will be able to afford your fish. The offcuts provided us with a way to: 1) Lower waste as the trim and the offcuts of our fish could go further than just the center cut of the fillet. 2) We used these offcuts to produce the only Hot Dog in the U.S. market made from salmon. It has your WEEKLY allowance of Omega 3’s at a price point that could put them in places such as 7–11 or even Walmart. The program is only getting started but in our minds a hotdog can help fight nutritional injustice.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?
It is commonly believed that the root of the ocean’s demise is the demand for fish and seafood, therefore if we stop eating fish we will solve the problem. The tipping point for me was understanding that with over 3 billion people across the world depending on fish and seafood as their primary source of protein and fish supply is responsible for 17% of all protein consumed in the world leaving the oceans alone or expecting these communities to go Vegan was an unrealistic, privileged way of viewing our food system. Add to this the fact that our precious planet is over 71% water, it is easy to understand how well managed oceans are essential to our future food system. This was my tipping point.
We often hear that the only answer is that we all go vegan. But with a planet that is projected to have 10 billion people it is simply unrealistic that we can leave the oceans out of the food sourcing equation. This is a rare time in history when we can build and scale a new food system. The BLUE food system. The tipping point for me was when I began to understand that we do have control to build a healthy and scalable food system that gives access for all. The oceans can provide this for us if we are brave enough to manage it properly. Blue Foods have proven that they deserve a place at the table of the future of food. But will others learn and understand its impacts before it’s too late?
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I would have to say that Alexandra Cousteau is the person that I am most grateful for in my journey to understand the importance of our oceans and the impact that they have had on our past, present and future. It was her grandfather that said that “The oceans are truly the last wild frontier” that we must learn to farm them rather than to fish them out. She sees this in a similar way to how we have our national park system. These areas of the ocean deserve protection in the same way that Yellowstone National Park is protected for its beauty, wild rawness, plants and animals. If we treat the oceans in the same way, what is called in some conservation circles a 30×30 model (protecting 30% of our ocean spaces by 2030), while recognizing the need to build a blue food resource, it is possible to restore our oceans to abundance- even in the face of climate change. Aquaculture done right will play a vital role in supporting ocean regeneration by allowing depleted fisheries to have the break that it needs. Establishment of marine sanctuaries will help build our oceans’ biodiversity. It is through her founding of Oceans 2050 and bringing me onto their board that I have had the privilege of learning so much from experts across the planet on our oceans and the gifts, if well managed, can provide.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“We must plant the sea and herd its animals using the sea as farmers instead of hunters. That is what civilization is all about — farming replacing hunting.” Jascque Cousteau
This was extremely relevant to my life’s passion and work. To get there, we will have to acknowledge aquaculture’s full history (including the good, the bad and the ugly), support ethical, sustainable water farmers out there and educate ourselves about the full picture. We cannot simply shift our food systems to land based agriculture for the production of alternative protein sources or plant based seafood- the resource use is only one factor that makes this option impossible. Another is the fact that over 800 million people globally depend upon these blue foods for their livelihoods. In fact, 2/3 of the blue foods produced globally are from small scale fisheries and aquaculture systems. Eliminating this is not only unrealistic but the resulting economic effects would be catastrophic. This is especially true for women as over 1/2 of this workforce is female.
There is no way to grow and scale a blue food system that is not only equitable but provides a scalable nutritious food source. According to Dr. Agnes Kalibata, special envoy to the UN Food Systems summit, “Blue foods are critical for nutrition and food security for millions of people around the world; they are a cornerstone of livelihoods, economies and culture for many communities. Blue foods can transform our food system to ensure equity and sustainability.”
They will build a more climate change resilient food system at a time in history when it’s needed most.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about Food Deserts. I know this is intuitive to you, but it will be helpful to expressly articulate this for our readers. Can you please tell us what exactly a food desert is? Does it mean there are places in the US where you can’t buy food?
Food deserts are not necessarily a place where you cannot buy food. Although that can sometimes be a factor when people have to commute long distances to get to grocery stores that offer a wide range of foods. More specifically: food deserts are regions of the country often with high numbers of low incomes households. Regions that likely have inadequate access to transportation and a limited number of food retailers providing fresh produce and healthy groceries for affordable prices.
Can you help explain a few of the social consequences that arise from food deserts?
Nutritional injustice is one of the devastating consequences of food deserts. Without access to Blue Foods, for example, children will not get the Omega 3’s that they need for proper brain development. Without consistent access to nutrient dense foods, they cannot concentrate, have cognitive issues as well as health issues. They are more likely to be obese or malnourished.
Aquaculture can provide us with nearly 4 times the fish and seafood that we have available at present. The work that Kvarøy Arctic is doing is only one example of the impact that water farmers can have on our food system. Through their work, and groups such as Stanford University’s Blue Foods Assessment, we can see how these foods and the waters in which they grow will have an essential role to play in the shift towards healthy, equitable and sustainable food systems.
Here’s more information about Stanford’s new study about Blue Foods, which points to fish as essential to improve diets and overcome food systems that put women, children, and the elderly at-risk.
Where did this crisis come from? Can you briefly explain to our readers what brought us to this place?
There is no single cause for the food deserts in the United States. They can be traced back to the things that we have already discussed such as the lack of access to good transportation. We can also look at the rise of fast food and convenience stores and how low-income families are more likely to live in communities populated by them, the result of which is limited healthy food options.
According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, we can surmise that opening a supermarket or grocery store chain is an investment risk because the purchasing power of customers in these communities — including families enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — can change dramatically over the course of a month. Add in the issues of higher crime rates which increase costs for a grocer on already low margins and it becomes too “Risky” to open a store where it’s needed most. The foundation says that when researchers from Brown University and Harvard University studied diet patterns and costs, they found that the healthiest diets — meals rich in vegetables, fruits, fish and nuts — were, on average, $1.50 more expensive per day than diets rich in processed foods, meats and refined grains. For families living paycheck to paycheck, the higher cost of healthy food could make it inaccessible even when it’s readily available.
It is why at Kvarøy Arctic we are investing in programs where we donate fish and seafood. In some cases, it is given to grocers to sell at low prices. This grants greater access to fish and seafood in these communities but there is dignity in the fact that it is purchased. Programs such as Winston Chiu’s Feed Forward, focus on the importance of dignity through access. This way families feel empowered through abundance rather than scarcity.
Can you describe to our readers how your work is making an impact to address this crisis? Can you share some of the initiatives you are leading to help correct this issue?
Kvarøy Arctic is a third-generation family-owned farm with a mission of supporting equitable access to nutritious, sustainable foods. They’re determined to protect the environment, promote animal welfare, provide traceability and transparency, and offer a healthy source of protein for a growing world.
Since the start of the pandemic, Kvarøy Arctic has donated its Fair Trade and American Heart Association certified salmon to at-need communities nationwide. Two prominent examples are the commitment to Rethink Food in Brooklyn in 2021, which includes a donation of 1,500–2,000 pounds of salmon each month! That’s equal to 4,000+ meals per week.
A donation of 40,000 pounds of fish was recently made to Feed Forward (value: $250,000), an organization that helps food insecure communities shop with dignity.
In addition to its donation program, which is continuing into 2022, Kvarøy Arctic has launched new affordable ways to enjoy its salmon including salmon hot dogs and burgers. Just one salmon hot dog or salmon burger exceeds the weekly recommended amount of omega-3s. Kvarøy Arctic is one of the first brands to introduce a salmon hot dog to the American market. It was created to make nutritious, sustainable salmon affordable and accessible, and to uphold a zero waste ethos. Each hot dog and burger is made from quality salmon fillet trimmings. These family-friendly options are easy to grill or pan-fry and they closely resemble the nostalgic American version.
Can you share something about your work that makes you most proud? Is there a particular story or incident that you found most uplifting?
There are so many impactful moments in this work. It goes without saying that COVID-19 is a different kind of crisis. At Kvarøy Arctic, the brand has experienced many things over the course of the forty-four years it has been farming. As this crisis unfolded, I rapidly realized that with the ever-burgeoning number of cases, we had to pay attention and react quickly. At Kvarøy Arctic, we made the decision to not feel overwhelmed and immobilized. We had immediate work to do in an effort to keep our farm safe, our supply chain moving and create solutions that would give our family, employees and communities the support they needed. All while bringing desperately needed, healthy sustainable fish to market.
A moment that stands out to me was during the covid crisis, a different crisis also arose at our US/Mexico border. Asylum seekers, refugees and migrants desperately needed food, shelter, medical assistance and more. We teamed up with Border Kindness to donate to their community food and outreach program. For many, this is their ONLY source of food and support. They serve hot meals daily and also pass out groceries to families.
They shared a video with me after our salmon donation arrived. It was of a little boy, dancing down the street as he carried a frozen salmon fillet from Kvarøy Arctic. It was such a joyful moment for him that day. I tried to imagine what the moment was like when he walked through the door with that beautiful fish. How proud he likely was to bring them a feast fit for a king.
Kvarøy Arctic comes from humble roots as well. Each and every team member in Norway and in the United States are on a journey of lifelong continuous learning. Those learnings have gotten me to where I am today. This crisis has reinforced my mantra as I learned from chefs, thought leaders and partners about where to give, what support is needed, and where it would have the most impact. While Kvarøy Arctic may not be the largest donor, we are generous of heart and attempt to have impact in our actions. Giving whenever and wherever we can.
This is surely a time to come together. To think about the needs in our communities large and small. To check on our family members, neighbors, and friends. To give as generously as we can because, as with all disasters, the process of recovery will be long, but together we can strengthen the ability for communities to respond and recover.
In your opinion, what should other business and civic leaders do to further address these problems? Can you please share your “5 Things That Need To Be Done To Address The Problem of People Having Limited Access to Healthy & Affordable Food Options”? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
- Offer nutritious, affordable options — Food brands can take more responsibility in offering affordable options that are also nutritious. That was the idea behind the introduction of the salmon burgers and hot dogs — to create a craveable and familiar option with essential nutrients that’s also affordably priced.
- Turn “Food Waste” into FOOD — Cutting a pristine fillet also means there is fish left behind. Kvarøy Arctic takes these quality trimmings and turns them into hot dogs and burgers. It’s a great solution for eliminating food waste and creating new ways to enjoy this sustainably raised fish.
- Incentivize grocers-Incentivizing or Subsidizing grocery stores to move into underserved communities.
- Expand programs through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits so that more farmers markets and online ordering can be utilized within the program.
- Require that licenses to fish or farm seafood in the U.S. must come with a guarantee that certain amounts will be available at lower cost to underserved communities, schools, food banks etc. With bills coming in front of congress such as the Aquaa Act, we have a responsibility to tie access into the privilege of farming in U.S. waters. It is urgently needed that not only access to the harvested fish is available but also the education and training for jobs on the water in aquaculture are available to those that want to work in this new part of our food system in the U.S.
Are there other leaders or organizations who have done good work to address food deserts? Can you tell us what they have done? What specifically impresses you about their work? Perhaps we can reach out to them to include them in this series.
There are so many groups that we have worked with over the course of the last two years. It was important to support nonprofit organizations working in areas identified as having high numbers of affected individuals and those who are working with the most vulnerable populations in those areas to help build their capacity for response, support and recovery. These include the restaurant and hospitality communities, food banks, front line workers, rescue missions, the homeless and those vulnerable to the economic impacts of a pandemic.
The focus on supporting equitable and responsible recovery is crucial in any disaster, but especially what we are facing in this “Covid” world. We heard the cries for help from chefs desperate to take care of their employees. We are still fielding urgent calls from large food service providers assisting health care organizations feeding frontline workers. We have even jumped in to support restaurants feeding the most vulnerable parts of their community as well as the workers who are their lifeblood, including hourly wage earners that make up the heart of this economy.
One leader that specifically comes to mind is Winston Chiu — winstonc@feedfwd.com- founder and managing director of Feed Forward are an inspiration. A dignified experience for those in need of food support. They leverage technology in a simple way that allows community restaurants and food providers to be a part of the solution. Participants can select and order their own meal and choose to have the meal delivered or available for pick up providing an experience that empowers. Their programs include grocery stores, food service providers and more.
https://feedfwd.com
Here are a few examples of organizations that we have supported:
Feed Forward
Food Rescue U.S.
Food Runners
Los Angeles Food Bank
Kitchens For Good
Three Square
Manna Food Center Community Food Rescue
Food For Free
Greater Cleveland Food Bank
Houston Food Bank
ReThink Food
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
Buy One Give One from Jimmy Kimmel, Front Line Foods, St. Joseph Center and Adam Perry Lang
HELPING THE HOMELESS
COTS
Coachella Valley Rescue Mission
SUPPORTING CHEFS/RESTAURANTS
Restaurant Employee Relief Fund
Project Black and Blue
Puffer Malarkey Collective Employee Relief Fund
Prado Restaurant Group. Employee Relief Fund
Disney Springs The Boathouse Restaurant Employee Meal Program
Kith/Kin Staff Support
Sparrow + Wolf Employee Relief Fund
Pacific Catch Restaurant Group Employee Meal Program
American Culinary Federation, Colorado
The Lobster Place
Park City Culinary Institute — Food and Beverage Meal Program
One Small Miracle
CARING FOR CHILDREN IN NEED
CASA — Solano County
Scott Foundation
Malibu LEAD
Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation
No Kid Hungry
Gourmet Gorilla
PROVIDING HOPE TO IMMIGRANTS
Mission Asset Fund
SUPPORTING HEALTHCARE WORKERS
North Carolina Health Care Assoc.
Compass Group, United Healthcare Frontline Meals Program
If you had the power to influence legislation, are there laws that you would like to see introduced that might help you in your work?
Legislation that would lead to the production of sustainable, ethical aquaculture in U.S. waters is the answer to our having access to fish and seafood for all. Charting a new course will be the key to the success of this program. At present, in the U.S. we import over 85% of all the seafood we consume — and half of that is from foreign aquaculture. That means when it comes to the majority of farmed fish we eat, we’re exporting our environmental footprint while missing out on the opportunity to create greater resilience and ACCESS to fish and seafood for all. By eliminating lengthy transportation costs, prices would go down. It also means that we are missing out on all of the jobs that could be generated from the production of this food system closer to home. The Environmental Defense Fund is working hard to write legislation that would help the U.S. lead the way in developing best practices for sustainable production of healthy seafood that would meet the most stringent environmental and health standards. This is most true in building a sustainable marine aquaculture industry and granting greater access in the fight against nutritional injustice. They are assessing the risks and benefits of offshore aquaculture and weighing this carefully with a science-first approach, and that means asking the right questions and understanding best practices.
Maddie Southard would be an incredible person to interview related to this work. msouthard@edf.org
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
When done right, aquaculture uses very little land, water, or feed and has one of the smallest resource footprints of any animal protein production. The aquaculture industry currently produces less than 0.5 percent of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint globally. But we can still do better.
If properly managed, the oceans can keep up with the growing demand of “Blue Foods”- The fact is that over 90% of our oceans are exploited and are fished to or over capacity. The issue lies with large scale commercial fishing than it does with consumption of fish and seafood overall. Humans love to oversimplify a problem. Change one specific behavior to get one specific solution. But something as intricate and interconnected as the ocean ecosystem will take multiple solutions to solve the issue. With over 4.6 million fishing boats in our oceans today, it is simply impossible for wild fish populations to keep up the pace at which we are fishing.
A large-scale campaign, similar to the “Got Milk” campaign, or “Pork, the other white meat”, is desperately needed for aquaculture. It only takes 3–5 years of a campaign such as this to change the public debate of “Farmed vs Wild” and to generate more consumers moving to supporting sustainable aquaculture. We have never expected that our “Hamburger” will be wild caught. Why would we continue to see our oceans through a lens of consumptive entitlement? A sustained consumer facing campaign could change that and open the door to greater access for all!
How can our readers further follow your work online?
We’d love for them to learn about the heritage of Kvarøy Arctic by visiting www.KvaroyArctic.com, Instagram @KvaroyArctic, Facebook @KvaroyArctic, and Twitter @KvaroyArctic, and use #TasteTheArctic. The brand is also on LinkedIn.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much, and we wish you only continued success.
Food Deserts: Jennifer Bushman Of Kvarøy Arctic On How How They Are Helping To Address The Problem… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.