La Vida Locavore is the blog for anyone whose crazy life includes planting, growing, weeding, fertilizing, raising, picking, harvesting, processing, cooking, baking, making, serving, buying, selling, distributing, transporting, composting, organizing around, lobbying about, writing about, thinking about, talking about, playing with, and eating food!
Agriculture
Chair: Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Max Baucus (D-MT)
- Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Bob Casey (D-PA)
- Kent Conrad (D-ND)
- Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
- Pat Leahy (D-VT)
- Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Ken Salazar (D-CO)
- Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
- Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Norm Coleman (R-MN)
- Mike Crapo (R-ID)
- Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Dick Lugar (R-IN)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Pat Roberts (R-KS)
- John R. Thune (R-SD)
Appropriations
Chair: Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: Herb Kohl (D-WI)
- Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
- Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
- Tim Johnson (D-SD)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Jack Reed (D-RI)
- Robert Bennett (R-UT)
- Christopher Bond (R-MO)
- Sam Brownback (R-KS)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Larry Craig (R-ID)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions
- Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Agriculture
Chair: Collin Peterson (D-MN)
V. Chair: Tim Holden (D-PA)
- Joe Baca (D-CA)
- John Barrow (D-GA)
* Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
- Nancy Boyda (D-KS)
* Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
- Travis Childers (D-MS)
- Jim Costa (D-CA)
- Henry Cuellar (D-TX)
- Joe Donnelly (D-IN)
- Brad Ellsworth (D-IN)
- Bob Etheridge (D-NC)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Steve Kagen (D-WI)
- Nick Lampson (D-TX)
- Tim Mahoney (D-FL)
- Jim Marshall (D-GA)
- Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
- Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
- John Salazar (D-CO)
- Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD)
- David Scott (D-GA)
- Zachary Space (D-OH)
- Timothy Walz (D-MN)
- Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
- Charles Boustany, Jr. (R-LA)
- K. Michael Conaway (R-TX)
- Terry Everett (R-AL)
- Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
- Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
- Sam Graves (R-MO)
- Robin Hayes (R-NC)
- Timothy Johnson (R-IL)
- Steve King (R-IA)
- Randy Kuhl (R-NY)
- Robert Latta (R-OH)
- Frank Lucas (R-OK)
- Jerry Moran (R-KS)
* Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO)
- Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
- Mike Rogers (R-AL)
- Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
- Adrian Smith (R-NE)
- Tim Walberg (R-MI) *=House Organic Caucus member
Appropriations
Chair: Dave Obey (D-WI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: P Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
- Sanford Bishop (D-GA)
* Allen Boyd (D-FL)
*P Sam Farr (D-CA)
*P Maurice D. Hinchey (D-NY)
P Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
P Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
- Steven R. Rothman (D-NJ)
- Jack Kingston (R-GA)
- Rodney Alexander (R-LA)
- Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)
- Ray LaHood (R-IL)
* Tom Latham (R-IA) *=House Organic Caucus member
P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
Education and Labor
P Chair: George Miller (D-CA)
- Jason Altmire (D-PA)
- Robert Andrews (D-NJ)
- Timothy Bishop (D-NY)
P Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
- Joe Courtney (D-CT)
P Danny Davis (D-IL)
- Susan Davis (D-CA)
P Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
P Phil Hare (D-IL)
- Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX)
P Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
- Rush Holt (D-NJ)
- Dale Kildee (D-MI)
P Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
P Dave Loebsack (D-IA)
- Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)
P Donald Payne (D-NJ)
P Linda Sanchez (D-CA)
- John Sarbanes (D-MD)
- Robert Scott (D-VA)
- Joe Sestak (D-PA)
- Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)
P John Tierney (D-MA)
P Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
- David Wu (D-OR)
- John Yarmuth (D-KY)
- Buck McKeon (R-CA)
- Judy Biggert (R-IL)
- Rob Bishop (R-UT)
- Charles Boustany, Jr (R-LA)
- Michael Castle (R-DE)
- David Davis (R-TN)
- Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
- Luis F Fortuno (R-PR)
- Peter Hoekstra (R-MI)
- Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
- Ric Keller (R-FL)
- John Kline (R-MN)
- Randy Kuhl (R-NY)
- Kenny Marchant (R-TX)
- Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
- Thomas Petri (R-WI)
- Todd Russell Platts (R-PA)
- Tom Price (R-GA)
- Mark Souder (R-IN)
- Timothy Wahlberg (R-MI)
- Joe Wilson (R-SC) P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
According to Crops Absorb Livestock Antibiotics, Science Shows, you might be eating antibiotics in your veggies. The antibiotics get there via manure used in fertilizer. They got into the manure because they were fed to animals to promote growth and prevent disease. The vast majority of antibiotics used in America are given to livestock subtherapeutically (i.e. when the animals aren't even sick). Just another way you meat eaters are trying to screw us vegetarians...
(Interesting story here... who would they replace Vilsack with at USDA? Somebody worse? The one thing I can say in his favor is that he is VERY closely aligned with Obama on food/ag policy (pro-ethanol, pro-packer ban, pro-GMO, etc). Is there someone else like him that Obama could pick? - promoted by Jill Richardson)
Obviously no need to recap the whole Vilsack story, but...late today the New York Daily News is reporting that Secretary of Agriculture nominee Tom Vilsack may instead become the nominee for Secretary of Commerce in Obama's cabinet. Ken Bazinet breaks the story on the NYDN blog The Mouth of The Potomac, and credits "a well placed source." Yesterday, Obama's first choice for commerce secretary, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, stepped down, citing a "pending investigation into a company that has done business with his state," according to Bloomberg News. As Obama scrambles to have an economic stimulus package in place on Day 1 after The Inauguration, an absent Secretary of Commerce is a huge problem. Tossing Vilsack into the commerce position makes sense; his economic policies while governor were almost as good as his ag policies were questionable.
In other Vilsack news, his confirmation hearing for Ag Secretary was announced today. According to Iowa's The Gazette, the hearing will take place January 14, with Senator Tom Harkin, chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee at the helm. But will the hearing be for Secretary of Commerce, or Secretary of Agriculture? Harkin told AP that Vilsack's confirmation would be "easy," but just last week he was blasting Obama for "ignoring" current Ag Committee members.
Reading up my new issue of Nature Genetics (yep, that's right, I read this to understand this area of science) I came across this fact: there is a link between blood sugar levels and biological clock that cues our sleeping and waking cycles. It's interesting in the sense that this link is significant as type 2 diabetes is on the increase as our sleeping patterns have decreased incrementally. In other words, if you sleep less, you produce less insulin. I Googled about and found that people with sleeplessness patterns tend to develop a tendency to obesity. Another site went on to say that sleep deprivation could cause psychological pathologies (come to think of it, CIA methods of interrogation do prove this point) as we know that there is ample evidence that little sleep degrades mental function. Here's the link to Nature News (can't link Nature Genetics, it's a closed shop!): http://www.nature.com/ng/index...
Let me first admit some bias. I'm a longtime fan of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and a more recent friend of their director, Ronnie Cummins (read an interview I did with him here). More importantly, over the years I've subscribed to OCA's newsletter and followed their work. I've seen a consistent commitment to do what is in the best interest of organic consumers - people who want to buy food that was produced in the best way for the environment, for people, for animals, and for health and flavor.
So if that's OCA's mission, what's OTA for? They are for organic producers, and while they may represent some of the "little guys" they appear to mostly represent Industrial Organic - the big guys. OTA has even tried to weaken organic standards. As you may have read in The Omnivore's Dilemma, Industrial Organic may follow the letter of the law but it does not always respect the earth or the animals involved. You can raise a chicken that is technically organic, but has a life little better than a conventional, factory farmed chicken. You can grow crops on an enormous farm that is technically organic, but where the soil is no better off than on a conventional farm. OTA might support that. OCA doesn't.
Knowing of my interest in food and water, a dear Australian friend of mine sent me a copy of the BBC's excellent investigative team, Panorama, which was aired Down Under recently. The documentary showed how many Fijians are falling ill and dying from typhoid and other diseases caused by a lack of safe, clean water. The irony of course is that these South Pacific islands have a flourishing bottled water industry, worth over $200 million per year and employing around 700 people. Having visited Fiji twice I can vouch for the purity of its water. Bottles of Fiji natural mineral water are a common sight in restaurants and on supermarket shelves across the US and Europe, some are cleverly called Fiji Water, and it travels up to 10,000 miles to get to your table, depending where you are. Click on the preceding link and you will see how they use Obama's name to push sales. Follow me for the sick story.
The extraordinary rainstorms last June caused catastrophic soil erosion in the grain lands of Iowa, where there were gullies 200 feet wide. But even worse damage is done over the long term under normal rainfall - by the little rills and sheets of erosion on incompletely covered or denuded cropland, and by various degradations resulting from industrial procedures and technologies alien to both agriculture and nature.
Soil that is used and abused in this way is as nonrenewable as (and far more valuable than) oil. Unlike oil, it has no technological substitute - and no powerful friends in the halls of government.
There isn't really much I can add. An absolute must-read from two of the strongest voices out there in support of sustainable agriculture.
For 50 or 60 years, we have let ourselves believe that as long as we have money we will have food. That is a mistake. If we continue our offenses against the land and the labor by which we are fed, the food supply will decline, and we will have a problem far more complex than the failure of our paper economy. The government will bring forth no food by providing hundreds of billons of dollars to the agribusiness corporations.
(This breaks my heart. We are killing one of our closest living relatives so we can eat trans-fat free junkfood. - promoted by Jill Richardson)
Today, I've decided to start a series on palm oil and palm ingredients - and alternatives to them. I'm in the process of building a website on the same subject ( http://www.nomorepalm.com ), but that will take a bit of time, and time is not something worth wasting in this context.
A specific type of vegetable oil may not sound like a particularly interesting subject, but palm oil is no ordinary vegetable oil. It is one of the more destructive forces on our planet today. Or maybe I should say that the machine of people and corporations in place to grow and distribute palm oil is one of the more destructive forces on our planet. Either way, consuming this ingredient - which is in an unbelievable amount of foods and cosmetics and other things - is something which makes one responsible for encouraging this.
Will we get a Prius in every garage and a farmers' market in every neighborhood as the Boston globe jokingly suggests in its article Is A Sustainable Food Strategy on Obama's Menu? The article leaves the reader with more questions and answers, such as:
Can a community organizer from Chicago support community supported agriculture? First, he must display the courage to defend what the likes of Michael Pollan have to say, without apology.
Another article, this one by Christopher Cook, author of Diet for a Dead Planet, specifically calls for Obama to put a number of objectives on his food policy to-do list. In A Food Agenda for Obama, Cook calls for:
1. New public investments targeting sustainable agriculture, defined as organic, small- to mid-sized, diversified farming.
2. New investments in local/regional food networks and foodsheds - to help build up the connections between farmers and consumers, to open up and expand new markets for organic farmers and those considering the transition; for more farmer's markets and food stores that feature local produce.
3. A moratorium on agribusiness mergers, and strenuous antitrust provisions and enforcement to protect what little is left of diversity in the food economy.
4. A moratorium on all new genetically modified (GMO) products, and an expansion of existing ones, and appointment of a blue-ribbon panel/commission to assess the impact of GMO foods on our environment and our health.
5. A moratorium on - and gradual phasing out of - concentrated animal feeding operations, aka factory farms, which are among the nation's top polluters of water and air, and breeders of widespread and virulent bacterial strains.
6. Dramatically expanded regulatory enforcement and staffing in the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration to protect food safety and meat industry labor and environmental practices.
7. Slowing the hazardously fast meatpacking (and poultry) assembly line, to protect workers and consumers.
8. Incentives for small-scale urban, suburban, and rural farming ventures oriented toward diversified local food systems.
9. Bold public investment in a raft of public awareness campaigns that build support, and expand markets and demand, for sustainable alternatives such as urban agriculture and gardening, and reducing fast-food consumption.
As American bees continue to succumb to Colony Collapse Disorder, honey is making headlines! And not necessarily in a good way. Kudos to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for their real reporting in Honey Laundering:
Big shipments of contaminated honey from China are frequently laundered in other countries -- an illegal practice called "transshipping" -- in order to avoid U.S.import fees, protective tariffs or taxes imposed on foreign products that intentionally undercut domestic prices.
In a series of shipments in the past year, tons of honey produced in China passed through the ports of Tacoma and Long Beach, Calif., after being fraudulently marked as a tariff-free product of Russia.
Tens of thousands of pounds of honey entering the U.S. each year come from countries that raise few bees and have no record of producing honey for export.
The government promises intense scrutiny of honey crossing our borders but only a small fraction is inspected, and seizures and arrests remain rare.
The feds haven't adopted a legal definition of honey, making it difficult for enforcement agents to keep bad honey off the shelves.
If your farmers' market is like mine, you can get some fantastic honey there. Given how sleezy the larger global industry appears based on these articles, it's a relief to know I can buy truly organic and truly local honey from people I know and trust.
One of my favorite bloggers, authors, and radio show hosts, Bill Scher, has been on a roll lately. Bill blogs at Liberal Oasis and Campaign for America's Future and he is the author of Wait! Don't Move to Canada. In my experience, he's also an incredibly brilliant observer of American politics, and this week I shot him an email to say that I thought he was being particularly brilliant. First, he talked about the need to get lies debunked before it's too late (in the case of the auto industry bailout - but this lesson is equally true with many food issues) on his show last week. Then on Rachel Maddow's show this week he said that we need to be proactive with Barack Obama - it's OK to be critical of him, preferably BEFORE a bad decision is made and it's too late - but then we need to remember to praise Obama loudly when he does a good job too. Thank you Bill!!! I quite agree!!
Anyway, when I sent Bill an email, he replied by suggesting we talk on his radio show this week about the Vilsack pick. Bill may not be exclusively devoted to the issue of food like I am, but he was astute to pick up on the same idea that both Michael Pollan and John Nichols alluded to... it's a BIG DEAL that the Sec of Ag pick has stirred up so much controversy among non-farmers!
I also should have mentioned the 60,000+ people who have petitioned Obama to pick a friend of sustainable food for Sec of Ag, and now for any of the under secretary positions at USDA. It's not too late to sign the petition - please head over there and sign if you haven't yet.
Our habitat promotes too much eating and too little exercise. Whatever encourages better habits on either front can help. When a state fully funds physical education, as Oregon should do, that can help enormously.
But when an architect plans a building with a well-lit, attractive staircase, inviting people to "walk, don't ride," that can help, too. When a developer puts sidewalks, bike trails and parks in a development, it encourages activity, not because it's good for you, but because it's fun.
When people plant vegetable gardens -- as many nutritionists hope President Barack Obama will do in the White House -- it encourages experimentation with healthier cooking and eating. (Vegetables often prove tastier than people expect.)
The very way that our society is physically arranged is of course a major contributing factor to this problem, and one of the first steps necessary to fixing our failed food sytem will certainly have to take that into account.
Too many Americans live in sprawling messes with no sidewalks, in municipalities where residential areas are completely segregated miles away from commercial, residential, industrial and even recreational areas. These soulless places were not designed on a human scale, and even if one was inclined to walk to, say the grocery store, in such an uninviting environment; the vast distances to cover between the strict segregation of uses would discourage even the most hardy soul in many places throughout America.
I went back and looked at a bunch of numbers from 2008. Unfortunately, the economic numbers are pretty bleak (and still getting worse).
U.S. Population:
January 2008: 302,785,808
December 2008: 305,313,980
Unemployment:
January 2008: 4.9%
November 2008: 6.7%
Inflation (Nov 2007-Nov 2008):
All items: 1.1%
Food: 6.0%
Energy: -13.3%
All items less food & energy: 2.0%
Hunger (as of Dec 2007):
Food Insecurity: 11.1% of all U.S. Households
Hunger: 4.1% of all U.S. Households
Hungry Children: 691,000
*These numbers are expected to get worse in 2008, as unemployment went up and so did food prices. The numbers here are the most recent ones released by the USDA.
China's food supply is awash with the industrial chemical melamine. This much we know. Dangerous levels have been detected not only in milk and eggs, but also in chicken feed, wheat gluten, chocolate, sweets and God knows what else (partial list here), and given the pervasiveness of melamine it simply means that it is almost impossible to avoid in processed foods. China knew about the link between the sick babies and melamine-laced formula months ago, well before the Summer Olympics in Beijing, but did not investigate until external pressure left them no choice. One would think they would have learned their lesson with the pet food scare last year in which thousands of pets lost their lives, including my Labrador who died in agony due to renal failure.
The trial: Tian Wenhua, the 66-year-old former general manager of the now bankrupt Sanluin stood in the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court whose trial ended on the 31st of December but no verdict was announced.
With the arrival of 2009, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) notes nearly a billion people a day go hungry worldwide. While India supplies Switzerland with 80% of its wheat, 350 million Indians are food-insecure. Rice prices have nearly tripled since early 2007 because, according to The International Rice Research Institute, rice-growing land is being lost to industrialization, urbanization and shifts to grain crops for animal feed.
I've been studying international trade issues affecting animal agriculture for 3 years now. I got into this to facilitate my activities in the fight against the National Animal ID System (NAIS). However the whole international trade environment and it's attendant issues are really fascinating in and of themselves. How countries interact with each other, and how people feed themselves, how the media perceives and reports on issues related to ag and international trade, these are just a few of the things that make this area of study truely amazing. I tell ya, it's a whole different world out there.
