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Commissioner’s AgriCorner
Florida’s Roadmap to Living Healthy
by COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE ADAM H. PUTNAM
of expanding farmers markets to meet demands in rural areas, partnering with others to improve affordability of healthy produce, and connecting food banks to farmers who can share their surplus.
Collectively, we’ve made great prog- ress in improving the health and well- ness of Florida’s communities, but there’s much more work to do, and resources are limited. We must maximize the use of our resources by targeting the commu- nities that need it most. We developed a new tool to help us do just that: We call it, “Florida’s Roadmap to Living Healthy.”
This interactive, online map overlays data available on health and wellness by census tract, including food deserts, food stamp- eligible households, and death rates attributable to diet-related diseases, such as diabetes, car- diovascular disease, and cancer. The map also displays the assets that are available to assist communities in need, including food banks, food pantries, farmers markets, child nu- trition programs, health centers, and free clinics. With this information, we can identify the communities with the great- est health risks associated with poor nu- trition and determine gaps in resources
WE THINK WE KNOW what the face of hunger looks like when we see starving children featured on television from countries around the globe. But we need to expand our thinking of what hunger is— what the face of hunger looks like— because it is in our backyards, our elementary schools, and our communi- ties right here in Florida.
One out of six Floridians is defined as food insecure. That means three mil- lion people across our state don’t have reliable access to affordable, nutritious food. And the rate is even higher among children, with one in four children be- ing food insecure, according to Feeding America, the nation’s leading hunger- relief charity.
Food insecurity in Florida is not be- cause of inadequate quantities of food,
however. Here in Flori- da, farmers and ranchers produce an abundance of food during our year- round growing season. We produce nearly 300 different commodities on 47,000 farms state- wide. The challenge of hunger in Florida is not one of supply, but of lo- gistics, access, and dis- tribution.
Many organizations, including non- profits, faith-based organizations, and local governments, are working to ad- dress these challenges. Here at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, we have been work- ing with them, evaluating the possibility
available to assist them.
Our map uses Geographic Information Systems, or GIS technology. It’s so sophis- ticated that you can view the data from the statewide view all the way down to the street level. This is the first time that any state has employed GIS technology to ad- dress the hunger crisis on a statewide level.
None of this data is new. The map- ping tool is just a new way of looking at the data we have available to better target communities in need, evaluate strategies, and measure progress. The possibilities of this map are endless.
Our collaborative use of this tool can help us not only improve the health and wellness of Florida communities, but have a lasting impact on the lives of Flor- ida residents. Ultimately, by improving access to nutritious foods in communi- ties with the most needs, we can bend the health care cost curve and improve aca- demic performance as well as workforce productivity.
We live in a state where we grow an abundance of healthy foods, any of which your doctor would be happy for you to eat. Yet, one in six Floridians do not have reliable access to this bounty. So let’s put our bright minds together, take advantage of the information we have available with this new tool, and stretch our resources to serve the communities that need help the most. Hunger, in Florida, can be solved. To explore “Florida’s Roadmap to Living Healthy,” go to www.FreshFromFlorida. com/RoadmaptoHealth. ag
BIO: Baxter Troutman is founder and chief executive officer of Labor Solutions, a staffing company with offices in Bartow, Winter Haven, Lake Wales, and Arcadia. A citrus grower who served in the Florida House of Representatives, Troutman understands the challenges and concerns of today’s farmer.
by BAXTER TROUTMAN
in 2015, with the first reports due in 2016. Work on IRS forms 1094-C and 1095-C, which will be used to report coverage information, is ongoing.
I’ll have more to write about the ACA in the next few columns. In the meantime, www.sba.gov/healthcare is a good business resource about Obamacare.
BUSINESS RULES FOR THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT, PART I
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Adam H. Putnam is Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture and over- sees school lunch and other nutrition programs at the Florida Depart- ment of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
To say that the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA)— aka “Obamacare”— is far reaching is quite the understatement. If not significantly changed, the ACA will touch everyone in the USA. Already, we’ve seen come and go the first open enrollment period for private healthcare insurance, implementation of the individual mandate for insurance coverage, and a probing question about healthcare coverage on federal tax forms.
For businesses, here are two key things to keep in mind about the further rollout of Obamacare:
• The Employer Shared Responsibility Mandate (“Play or Pay”)— Under original ACA rules, all employers with 50 or more full-time (or full time equivalent, a.k.a. FTEs) employees could be subject to a penalty, starting in 2015, if
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they don’t offer health coverage or if the coverage is ruled to be unaffordable or not providing minimum value. However, those rules have been modified. Employers with 50 to 99 FTEs now have until 2016 to comply, while employers with 100 or more FTEs still must comply starting Jan. 1, 2015. To avoid a penalty for not offering insurance coverage, employers with 100 or more FTEs must
offer coverage to 70 percent of their FTEs in 2015 and 95 percent in 2016 and each year thereafter.
• Employer Information Reporting Mandate— Under modified rules, employers with 50 or more full-time employees (including FTEs) must report to the Internal Revenue Service on the health insurance coverage they do or don’t offer to employees. This mandate will be effective
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