Group+Three

**__Introduction__** While large industries like Wal-Mart and Safeway boom in our society, small farms and local businesses are dwindling. Small farms once were the livelihood of many communities in our America, and with their decrease the sense of community and other benefits of small farms seem to be dwindling. Our country as a whole is not providing enough support to allow the growth of small farms to flourish, and social structures such as families and schools are not doing enough to help promote small farms in the U.S. Looking through the eyes of a structural functionalist, we will research the effects of small farms on society and determine a way to create a change in our society which promotes small farms.

__**Theory: Structural Functionalism**__ The functionalist perspective is the sociological approach that emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability. Society is viewed as a vast network of connected parts, each of which helps to maintain the system as a whole (class notes). Some examples of institutions include family, schools, clubs, and other organizations. Through the functionalist perspective it is believed that every institution within society holds a significant role, which heavily affects the “stability or equilibrium of the whole” (class notes).

A structural functionalist view on the lack of promotion of small farms focuses predominantly on the effects of societies institutions. The overall structure of our society as a whole makes marketing extremely difficult for small farms. These institutions, specifically speaking (families and schools) are not working to aid or promote the overall importance of small farms. Families constantly go to the cheapest, most convenient place to buy groceries (Wal-Mart or Safeway) and small farms are dying because of this. Schools are certainly not supporting or encouraging the success of privately owned small farms. The education system is not placing a very heavy emphasis on the health benefits associated with eating foods from small farms. Schools briefly mention the topic, or merely dismiss the significant argument small farms have to offer, by not mentioning or bringing it up at all.

Structural Functionalism proposes that we alter the social structure in order to make a change. If schools and other social structures like families and businesses explicitly help in resolving, stressing, and implementing the small farms and the benefits that organic foods hold, society as a whole could profit. In order to attempt to promote small farms, a greater sense of involvement and community ought to be fostered within social structures. Until there are significant changes within social structures, small farms will continue to struggle and not be given a just opportunity to display their benefits.


 * __Literature Review__**

//Large Farms vs. Small Farms// Our findings were that even though large farms may get all the hype, they really aren’t as beneficial as small farms. Small farms are good for the natural land, crops, and town life. “Where family farms predominated, there were more local businesses, paved streets and sidewalks, schools, parks, churches, clubs, and newspapers, better services, higher employment, and more civic participation“ (Rosset). It seems that where small farms are present, more institutions benefit.

//Mechanization// More often than not when larger farms take over towns they cause unemployment because they turn to machines. “Mechanization meant fewer local people were employed, and absentee ownership meant farm families themselves were no longer to be found” (Rosset). The feeling of togetherness was lost when these bigger farms took over once family owned farms. In this situations the larger institutions made it nearly impossible for small farms to thrive. Also, the loss of jobs may contribute to the high unemployment rates. When people are employed on small farms, the need for mechanization is decreased and more people will be employed.

//Finanaces// Financially smaller farms are also better. In simple terms there is more bang for your buck. “In the United States the smallest farms, those of 27 acres or less have more than ten times greater dollar output per acre than larger farms.” (Rosset) Smaller farms are also more productive. “Relatively smaller farms are much more productive per unit area—200 to 1,000 percent more productive—than are larger ones” (Rosset). Because smaller farms have a higher dollar output and productivity than large farms, we believe having more small farms during the current economic crisis may improve the quality of life for many Americans economically.

//What is being done about the issue?// The government, our main social structure, instated a farm bill in 2008 in order to aid small farms. One of the things this bill did was eliminate the three entity rule that allows larger farms to receive double the limit of wages. This bill also looked at the reasons why the three limits are not effective. One reason that these limits prove to be ineffective is that "high income investors will divide income between spouses to keep at least one below the limit." (Bruckner) The bill will deny certain payments to individuals with a certain income, therefore ensuring that the mega farms will not be given all the profits and aiding the smaller farms.

Because the overall structure of our society isn't doing enough to allow small farms to thrive by producing and marketing their goods in modern society, we believe the structure of our society and institutions must be changed in order to support small farms. We suggest that small farming be promoted in communities throughout the United States by implementing a program in college institutions nationwide. College institutions may be able to reduce the negative effects on small farms by sending its agriculture or biology students out to farm in the community as a school project. Agriculture and other interested students in the campus will essentially plant, tend to, and harvest crops on the school-run small farms and sell or trade them to other students and the community around the college as a whole. In having small farms on college campuses nationwide, we believe the community around the college will benefit and so will the community's overall health.
 * __The Solution__**

Students can even sell the crops to the school cafeteria or to families in the area. When students sell crops to the school, the students will benefit from eating healthier, non-genetically altered foods and so will the greater community. Also, having small farms located in college communities will raise awareness about small farms. This may encourage families in the area to start farming on their own and trade with the students farming at the school. Surely this new trend in small farming will enhance the sense of community where college farms are present.

Through instituting small farms in college communities, small farms will be strategically brought to the consumers and therefore make locally grown produce more accessible to families. We hope that families and other businesses will take advantage of the close proximity instead of buying from institutions which mass produce or genetically alter the food that they sell, like Wal-Mart or Safeway. As stated before, the awareness of small farms due to the growing number of locations may be able to motivate more families to start growing food on their own. With more families being involved in small farms, families will be able to trade with one another instead of going to corporate stores for their food, making organic food more affordable. This will improve the overall health of the community.

We believe the support of the college institutions will aid small farms by making financial resources more availiable to those wanting to grow food locally. Because colleges and/or students' tuition reduces the personal risk involved in beginning and maintaining small farms, the college structure will help small farms stay in business. And when the college farms stay in business, they will be an example for other people with an interest in farming to do the same thing. And when more people participate in small farming, more will be able to reap the benefits.


 * __Annotated Bibliographies:__**

**Rosset, Peter. "On the Benefits of Small Farms." //Food First//. BACKGROUNDER, 8 Feb. 1999. Web. 27 Apr. 2010.**

__**Main Question:**__ How beneficial are small farms and in what ways?

The main findings are that in all our solution would solve or atleast help provent the spread of these mass producing larger farms. Financially smaller farms bring in more money. Smaller farms also would give many people and or students jobs or activites to work on. These activities would also build a sense of community among thouse participating which is also lost in large farms. The land itself would also be used the way it is intended to be used.
 * __Main Findings:__**


 * "The actual data shows the opposite- small farms produce far more per acre or hectare than large farms
 * Large farmers tend to plant monocultures because they are the simplest to manage with heavy machinery.
 * Small farmers, especially in the Third World, are much more likely to plant crop mixtures—intercropping—where the empty space between the rows is occupied by other crops.
 * In all cases, relatively smaller farm sizes are much more productive per unit area—200 to 1,000 percent more productive—than are larger ones. In the United States the smallest farms, those of 27 acres or less have more than 10 times greater dollar output per acre than larger farms.
 * Walter Goldschmidt’s classic 1940’s study of California’s San Joaquin Valley, //As You Sow: Three Studies in the Social Consequences of Agribusiness,// compared, areas dominated by large corporate areas dominated by large corporate farms with those still characterized by smaller, family farms.
 * In farming communities dominated by large corporate farms, nearby towns died off. Mechanization meant fewer people were employed, and absentee ownership meant farm families themselves were no longer to be found.
 * Where family farms predominated, there were more local businesses, paved streets, and sidewalks, schools, parks, churches, clubs, and newspapers, better services, employment, and more civic participation. Recent studies confirm that Goldschmidt’s findings remain true.
 * Small farmers, farming systems are diverse, incorporating and preserving significant functional biodiversity within the farm. By preserving biodiversity, open space, and trees, and by reducing land degradation, small farms provide valuable ecosystem services to the larger society.
 * In the United States, small farmers devote 17 percent of their area to woodlands, compared to the only 5 percent on large farms, and keep nearly twice as much of their land in “soil improving uses,” including cover crops and green manures."

This article relates to our research because it has to do with community involvement. The community is comprised of many different structures and structural functionalism has alot to do with the structures' efforts as well as the service they do. By having small farms the local economy is also benefitted greatly.
 * __How this relates to our research:__**

**Schafer. United States. United Stated Department of Agriculture. Farm Service Agency. Available:** [|**http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=dccp&topic=landing.**]

What does the Farm Bill consist of and how does it affect the producers?
 * __Main Question:__

__Main Findings:__** “The Direct and Counter - cyclical Payment Program (DCP) provides payments to eligible producers on farms enrolled for the 2008 through 2012 crop years.”
 * “Both are calculated using the base acres and payment yields established for the farm.”
 * “To be eligible for DCP payments, owners, operators, landlords, tenants, or sharecroppers must:
 * share in the risk of producing a crop on base acres on a farm enrolled in DCP, and be entitled to share in the crop available for marketing from the base acres or would have shared had a crop been produced;
 * annually report the use of the farm's cropland acreage;
 * comply with conservation and wetland protection requirements on all of their land;
 * comply with planting flexibility requirements;
 * use the base acres for agricultural or related activities; and
 * protect all base acres from erosion, including providing sufficient cover as determined necessary by the county FSA committee, and controlling weeds.”
 * Direct Payments
 * “The 2008 Farm Bill continues the direct payments that began under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002. Direct payment rates for the eligible DCP commodities are as follows:
 * Wheat: $0.52 per bushel
 * Corn: $0.28 per bushel
 * Grain sorghum: $0.35 per bushel
 * Barley: $0.24 per bushel
 * Oats: $0.024 per bushel
 * Upland cotton: $0.0667 per pound
 * Rice, long grain: $2.35 per hundredweight
 * Rice, medium/short grain: $2.35 per hundredweight
 * Soybeans: $0.44 per bushel
 * Other oilseeds: $0.80 per hundredweight
 * Peanuts: $36 per ton”
 * “For each commodity, the total direct payment for the 2009 crop year for producers on a farm is determined by multiplying 83.3 percent of the farm's base acreage times the farm's direct payment yield times the direct payment rate.”
 * Counter-cyclical Payments
 * “In addition to direct payments, the 2008 Farm Bill authorizes counter-cyclical payments, which provide support counter to the cycle of market prices as part of a "safety net" in the event of low crop prices. Counter-cyclical payments for a commodity are only issued if the effective price for a commodity is below the target price for the commodity.”
 * “The counter-cyclical payment rate is the amount by which the target price of each commodity exceeds its effective price.”
 * “For crop years 2009 through 2011, producers may elect to receive their direct payments in two installments:
 * The first advance payment for up to 22 percent of the total payment is provided by statute to be made available:
 * For crop years beginning 2009 through 2011, beginning in December of the calendar year prior to the harvest year.
 * The balance of the total direct payment is available in October of the crop year. Producers who do not elect to take the first direct payment will receive the entire direct payment that October.”
 * “For 2012, there is no advance direct payment.”
 * “Producers must refund to FSA counter-cyclical payments that exceed the final and total counter-cyclical payment for each respective crop. This situation may occur when actual market prices exceed the projected market prices used in determining the partial counter-cyclical payment rates."

The article specifically relates to our research by looking at the method of payment of small farms. Farmers and small farms need to know how to start off and be efficiently profitable. Through our theory of structural functionalism the government, one of the main social structures in our society, is key in solving the problem of diminishing small farms.
 * __How this relates to our research:__**

Only twenty-seven percent of Americans have a "good job," one that is able to provide the necessities for life (Good Jobs). Studies have shown that from 1970 to 1999 the rich get richer while the poor become poorer (Wealth Distribution). Is the American Dream equally available to all American citizens? With the help of our theory, structural functionalism, we will investigate social stratification by reviewing literature previously written on the topic and come to a conclusion about how to bring about positive changes in relation to social stratification. To embrace an ideology that declares inequality to be unnecessary and unjust; they must accept a common identity and they must believe that struggling together is more promising and noble than personal gain" (Jackson 61). “Over the past three decades between 11 and 15 percent of Americans have lived below the poverty line in any given year” (Rank 159). There are a lot of different aspects that go into why people fall below the poverty line. There are some that can’t help it and “are at a greater risk which is based on age, race, gender, family, structure, community or residence, education, work skills, and physical disabilities.”(Rank 159) Family and education seem to be the most prevalent for a Structural Functionalist, because these are the institutions which socialize children of our future economic crisis. A lot of these hardships within a poor family can’t be fixed or changed by the individual; it is usually what they are born into. Just like a person's status in life, one's economic standing is based on these same characteristics (Jackson 60). “When households become impoverished it usually lasts between 1-3 years and is usually caused by a major change such as a lost job, divorce, or both.” (Rank 159) This represents a change in the institution of family which can lead to financial hardship. Other reasons other than divorce or job loss that effect people are that there is little government help to aid households during financial emergencies. (Rank 161) A third reason people in America fall below the poverty line is the fact that our job market is so low, failing to provide an adequate number of jobs that pay well enough to support a family. Instead of the job market creating high paying full time jobs they are in instead creating low pay, part time jobs, that come with no benefits (Rank 162). "The Census Bureau estimated that the median earnings of workers was $9.91 and 3 million Americans were working part time because there were not enough full time jobs available" (Rank 162). Jackson, Robert Max. (2007). “Keyword: Inequalities” Contexts. American Sociological Association Is the American Dream equally available to all American citizens? Even those of a different race, income, and sex among other differences? Main Findings: "How people experience and respond to inequality depends on what they believe causes it, how avoidable it is, and how unfair it seems" (Jackson 60). //**
 * __Understanding U.S. Social Stratification__**
 * __Introduction__**
 * __Theory: Structural Functionalism__**
 * __Literature Review__**
 * __Methods__**
 * __Results__**
 * __Annotated Bibliographies__**
 * //Main Question:
 * "Using these Enlightenment ideas, people could blame inequality on specific social institutions and groups, rather than accepting it as God's will or a tragic fact of life, much like disease" (Jackson 59).


 * "Like those before us, we lived and breathe inequality every moment of everyday: all our interactions, our relationships, every aspect of social life involves and responds to inequality" (Jackson 59).


 * "People of similar social status have more contact, interact as equals, have analogous experiences ad histories, perceive each other as more understandable and accessible, and reinforce each other's perceptions" (Jackson 59).


 * "A person's status is influenced simultaneously by race, gender, parent's status, occupation, wealth, education, and other characteristics; these are largely inseparable in experience" (Jackson 60).
 * "Privileged positions in these hierarchies offer children not only direct financial support but but cultural and interpersonal skills, personal connections, high aspirations, and some insurance against inevitable missteps" (Jackson 60).


 * "Much of the criminal code in modern capitalist countires is designed to restrain those who would violate systems of inequality, for instance through theft" (Jackson 61).


 * "They must embrace an ideology that declares inequality unnecessary and unjust and suggests that overcoming it is a practicable strategy; they must accept a common identity; and they must believe that collective struggle is a more promising or more noble strategy than personal advancement" (Jackson 61).


 * "In the 19402, sociologist Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore famously argued that positions in a modern economy carry unequal rewards because higher rewards are needed to attract trained and motivated people to fill the jobs important to a society's functioning" (Jackson 61).


 * "At one time, for example, sovereignty was transmitted by kinship, and women were excluded from citizenship; people believed these conditions were necessary, but their elimination in the modern world has shown they are not" (Jackson 61).

Rank, Mark R. (2003). “As American as Apple Pie: Poverty and Welfare.” Contexts. American Sociological Association //**Main Findings:**//
 * How This Article Relates to Our Research:**
 * This article and the analysis discussed in the research ** "A person's status is influenced simultaneously by race, gender, parent's status, occupation, wealth, education, and other characteristics; these are largely inseparable in experience" (Jackson 60). and they must believe that collective struggle is a more promising or more noble strategy than personal advancement" (Jackson 61).
 * //Main Question://**
 * Over the past three decades between 11 and 15 percent of Americans have lived below the poverty line in any given year. (Rank 159)
 * Some are at a greater risk to be poor based on age, race, gender, family, structure, community or residence, education, work skills, and physical disabilities (Rank 159)
 * When households become impoverished it usually only last between 1-3 years and usually caused by a major change in the family such as job loss divorce or both (rank 159)
 * Our understanding about the extent of poverty comes mostly from annual surveys conducted by the Census Bureau. (rank 159)
 * Other than major changes in the family such as divorce and job loss another reason poverty rates are that there is little government help to tide households over during financial emergencies. (Rank 161)
 * In most European countries they provide a wide range of social and insurance programs that effectively keep families from falling into poverty. These include substantial cash payments to families with children. Unemployment assistance is far more generous in these countries than the Unite State, often providing support for more than a year following the loss of a job. (Rank 161)
 * In contrast to other countries the United States was only able to reduce the percentage in poverty at any given time from 29 percent to 18 percent. As a result the current rates of U.S. poverty are among the highest in the industrialized world. (Rank 162)
 * A third reason the poverty level is so high is the failure of the labor market to provide enough jobs that pay well enough. During the past 30 years the U.S. economy has produced increasing numbers of low-paying jobs, part-time jobs, and jobs with out benefits. The Census Bureau estimated that the median earnnings of workers was $9.91. and 3 million Americans were working part time because there were not enough full time jobs available. (Rank 162)

//**How this article relates to our Research:**// ====**__Literature Review__ "Crisis pregnancy centers are privately funded, storefront operations that offer women materials and emotional support free of charge, and help hundreds of thousands of pregnant women each year to have their babies" (Mathewes-Green 1996). Their main concern is young women and their children and how they are going to be able to financially support themselves, because young women with a low income are more likely to have unplanned pregnancies. Women with low incomes had the highest percentage of unintended pregnancies with percentages near 61.4% and unintended births 44.8% (Henshaw 1998). The numbers of unplanned pregnancies were also greatly influenced by the age of women. “Teenagers, 15-18 had the highest percentage (82-83%) of unintended pregnancies. The rates decreased as age increased, dropping to 33% among women aged 30-34, and then the numbers again increased, reaching 51% among women aged 40 and older” (Henshaw 1998). The women are usually on the list for public housing, which usually is in bad neighborhoods, and she then goes on welfare where she gets around 200 dollars a month and food stamps (Mathewes-Green 1996). Crisis pregnancy centers want to stop this cycle of young women keeping their babies and going through these financial troubles, but they don’t want these women to have abortions instead they bring up a third option of adoption. However, pregnancy centers are cautious about how they discuss adoption, because some women who placed their child up for adoption ended up suing the centers where they had received counseling, saying they had felt coerced causing the centers with a lower income more unlikely to mention adoption because of being afraid about being sued and losing the small amount of money they have (Mathewes-Green 1996). Counselors have to be very careful in how they bring up adoption; they need to encourage mothers-to-be to love their babies enough to give them life, but still be willing to place them with two-parent homes (Mathewes- Greene 1996). Another factor that adds into unplanned pregnancies is race. In Kansas City, there is a crisis pregnancy center called LIGHT House that goes about getting pregnant teens to think about adoption in a different way than counseling. LIGHT House, for example, "the girls get to hold "Baby Jamie" which is an electronic infant that records how long it had been crying for the young girl responded to it and whether it's being abused. Girls who think they want to parent their babies can have a turn with Baby Jamie and have to carry around a diaper bag and get up at night for feeding" (Mathewes-Green 1996). In conclusion, unplanned pregnancies centers help mostly young low-income women and try to defer them away from abortion and putting it up for adoption with a two-parent household. Some crisis pregnancy centers like LIGHT House show the pregnant women how much work and effort they must put in to have a baby in hopes for them to seriously think about adoption. **====
 * __Best Practices for Crisis Pregnancy Centers__**
 * __Introduction__**
 * __Theory: Social Conflict__**

Conducting current and best practices research is critical to developing a full understanding of a problem
 * __Methods__**
 * __Results__**

How does a woman’s age, marital status, income, and race affect the rates of unintended pregnancies? The article defined that unintended pregnancies were combinations of abortions and unexpected pregnancies, or those “reported as having been unintended” (Henshaw 1998). 1. A woman’s age, income, marital status, and race all affect the different rates of unintended pregnancies. 2. be gin by looking at the differing ages of women. The figures of unintended pregnancies were heavily affected by the age of women. “Teenagers younger than 18 (aged 15-17) having the highest percentage (82-83%) of unintended pregnancies. The rates decreased as age increased, dropping to 33% among women aged 30-34, and then the numbers again increased, reaching 51% among women aged 40 and older” (Henshaw 1998). 3. Income is an important factor that affects unintended pregnancies. Women with low incomes had the highest percentage of unintended pregnancies with percentages near 61.4% and unintended births (44.8%). Women with higher incomes had the highest percentage of unplanned pregnancies that were ended with abortions. 4. Women who are living in poverty, are far more likely to have unintended or unplanned births, than are women who acquire higher incomes. “The overall pregnancy rate declined with increasing income, and this trend resulted mainly from the higher rate of unintended pregnancy among poor women” (Henshaw 1998). ** 5. Marital status is also a very important determinant in unintended pregnancies. The rate of pregnancies that were ended by abortion was higher in 1994 than in 1987 for those women who were married. ** 6. Race plays a crucial factor in affecting the rates of unintended pregnancies and births. Compared next to white woman, black woman, through this analysis have been found to have higher rates of unintended and unwanted pregnancies. “The higher pregnancy rate for black women resulted from an unintended pregnancy rate that was almost three times that of white women. Because black women's unintended pregnancy rate was so high, the proportion of these women's pregnancies that ended in abortion (44%) was much higher than that of white women (22%)” (Henshaw1998). This article and the analysis found with the research done by the NSFG highly suggest lowering and preventing unintended or unwanted pregnancies. For example the author explicitly states, “whether they end in abortion or unplanned birth, unintended pregnancies come at a very large cost both to the individuals involved and to the larger society as a whole” (Henshaw 1998). The article highly emphasizes the importance of effectively promoting contraceptive methods. Lessoning the amounts of “risky behaviors” highly favors corporations such as Planned Parenthood allowing them to make sizeable amounts of money, and other businesses that promote effective contraceptive methods. Main Question** This article and the analysis discussed in the research **
 * Main Question**
 * Main Findings**
 * How this relates to our research:**
 * Eglene, Ophelia. Conducting Best and Current Practices Research: A Starter Kit. Center for Technology in Government. 2000.
 * Main Findings**
 * How this relates to our research:

·Since these families have no source of financial stability a lot of crisis pregnancy centers give the women a third choice: adoption.
== ·A poll conducted by Family Research Council in 1995 asked people which course they thought would be the best option for an unwed, pregnant teen. Twenty-nine percent thought the teen’s best choice was to place the child up for adoption. A little lower, 24 percent, felt she should marry the father of the child. Eleven percent thought single-parenting was her best choice, and only 8 percent recommended abortion. However, these statistics don’t seem to be proven true, in 1991 46 percent of un wed mothers pregnancy ended in abortion, and two percent ended in adoption. ==

How this Relates to our Research:
== These findings relate to the research by the way crisis pregnancy centers counsel women so they are not pushing their opinion on the women that come into the pregnancy centers but strictly giving them facts. Adoption is something crisis pregnancy centers promote if they expect the child to be aborted or in an unstable home, be on welfare, or possibly continue the pattern or cycle of single parent families who end up on welfare. ==

__**Obesity in the United States and Atchison, KS**__ __**Introduction**__ __**Literature Review**__ (CDC,2) (CDC,2) (CDC,3) Policy and environmental change initiatives that make healthy choices in nutrition and physical activity available, affordable, and easier will likely be the most effective in fighting obesity.
 * __Theory: Symbolic Interactionism__**

=
Environmental factors influence weight issues along with diet and exercise. (Lack of access to full-service grocery stores, high costs of healthy foods, and lack of access to safe places to play and exercise.) (Kahn, 1) Here are some examples the community should provide to help fight obesity in the United States: increase the availability of healthier food and beverage choices in public service venues, improve availability of affordable healthier food and beverage choices in public service venues, improve geographic availability of supermarkets in underserved areas, provide incentives to food retailers to locate in and/or offer healthier food and beverage choices in underserved areas, improve availability of mechanisms for purchasing foods from farms, provide incentives for the production, distribution, and procurement of foods from local farms, and restrict the availability of less healthy foods and beverages in public service venues. (Kahn, 7-10)=====

=
Some say that those in the work place who were exercising before technology came along are doubling their exercising. But those who were inactive before stayed inactive. Finkelstein states, “However due to the rise in child obesity the labor-saving technology is not what caused the rise in obesity of children.” (242) Finkelstein also believes studies show that the intake in calories among children is because of juice, soft drink, and the acceptance of snaking before and after meals. (242-244) Children watching too much TV and are exposed to 10 commercials an hour advertising unhealthy food such as fast food restaurants, sweets, and other unhealthy options. Simply causing an epidemic in America. (Finkelstein, 246) “Economists say that their first law of demand is that if the price of food is decreased then the consumption of it will increase. (For example McDonalds Dollar Menu) Prepackaged foods with high sugar and oil prices dropped while vegetables and fruits prices gradually increased. (Finkelstein, 244) Serving sizes have begun growing since 1970s and continue to grow throughout the decades. Restaurants are giving out bigger sizes and even cookbooks serving sizes have grown throughout the years, suggesting that the serving sizes in the home are larger than they were in the past.”(Finkelstein, 244) A rise in more working hours and less time leaves parents and their families grabbing and eating. Whether, it’s high in fat fast food or microwavable meals; this is a big weight booster in families around the world.=====

__**Methods**__

**Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2009. Obesity: Halting the Epidemic by Making Healthy Eating Easier**. **Main Question:** How are we going to halt the epidemic which is obesity? This article truly discussed how much of an epidemic obesity has become in our country. "More than one third of U.S. adults more than 72 million people and 16% of U.S. children are obese."(Centers,2) Obesity is also something that impacts everyone. "Obesity rates among all groups in society irrespective of age, sex, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education level, or geographic region have increased markedly."(Centers,2) Obesity is a terrible factor on one's health as well; "one study of 5- to 17 year olds found that 70% of obese children had at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease and 39% of obese children had atleast two risk factors." Centers,2) Obesity also has other health consequences such as; coronary health disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Obesity isn't just costly to our health but it is also costly to our pockets. "In 2000, obesity- related health care costs totaled an estimated $117 billion." (Centers,2) Many people may ask themselves how did we come to this? "American society has become 'obesogenic' characterized by environments that promote increased food intake, unhealthful foods, and physical inactivity."(Centers,2) The Center for Disease Control believes that the best making policy and environment changes as well as making nutrition affordable is the best way we are going to be able to overcome obesity in our country. "Currently, 23 states are funded through CDC's Nutrition and Physical Activity and Obesity Cooperative Agreement Program that coordinates statewide efforts with multiple partners to address obesity."(Centers,3) The program also looks to address health disparities and needs a comprehensive state plan. In closing, this article explains that we need to look into changing the environment policies as well as making healthy living more affordable and physical activity avaliable to all. This relates to our finds because it shows that it impacts everyone. It also suggests that we need to change policies in our country and give health almost more of a good stigma. By making more fun physical activity possible in Atchison we could also increase excercise. Maybe by offering more health concious classes as a community we could also educate our citizens. If the people in Atchison were to go to the farmers market together as a family and then went back and cooked dinner together, they would be increasing healthy eating habits and realize the importance of a well balanced dinner. The mom could teach the kids how to cook healthy foods so that they can cook the food while she is at work. Since from our studies a reason why families resort to fast foods is that the parents return home from work late and only have time to get fast food or cook prepackaged food. ** ** Youfa Wang and Beydoun, May A. 2007. The Obesity Epidemic in the United States – Gender, Age, Socioeconomic, Racial/Ethnic, and Geographic Characteristics: A Systematic Review and Meta-Regression Analysis. Epidemiologic Reviews. **
 * __ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHIES__**
 * Main Findings: **
 * How this relates to our research: **
 * Finkelstein, Eric A, Christopher J. Ruhm, and Katherine M. Kosa. "Economic Causes and Consequences of Obesity. Annual Review of Public Health." (2005): 239-57.**
 * Main Question:**
 * Main Findings:**
 * How this relates to our research:
 * Laura Kettle Khan et al. Recommended Community Strategies and Measures to Prevent Obesity in the United States. 2009. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 58: RR-7 **
 * Main Question:**
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