About

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!

Notable Diaries

- Recent Congressional Hearings
- 2008 By The Numbers
- The 2007 Ag Census
- Why I Oppose GMOs
- My Visit to Growing Power
- My Trip to a Hog Confinement
- Why We Grow So Much Corn and Soy
- How the Chicken Gets to Your Plate

Politicians To Know

USDA

Senate

Agriculture
Chair: Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
- Max Baucus (D-MT)
- Michael Bennet (D-CO)
- Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Bob Casey (D-PA)
- Kent Conrad (D-ND)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
- Pat Leahy (D-VT)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
- Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- John Cornyn (R-TX)
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Mike Johanns (R-NE)
- Dick Lugar (R-IN)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Pat Roberts (R-KS)
- John R. Thune (R-SD)

Appropriations
Chair: Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: Herb Kohl (D-WI)
- Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
- Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- 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)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Arlen Specter (R-PA)

Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions
- Chris Dodd (D-CT)

Senate Hunger Caucus

House

Agriculture
Chair: B Collin Peterson (D-MN)
V. Chair: B Tim Holden (D-PA)
B Joe Baca (D-CA)
- John Boccieri (D-OH)
B* Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
- Bobby Bright (D-AL)
B* Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
- Travis Childers (D-MS)
B Jim Costa (D-CA)
- Henry Cuellar (D-TX)
- Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA)
B Brad Ellsworth (D-IN)
- Debbie Halvorson (D-IL)
B Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD)
- Steve Kagen (D-WI)
- Larry Kissell (D-NC)
B Frank Kratovil (D-MD)
- Betsy Markey (D-CO)
B Jim Marshall (D-GA)
P Eric Massa (D-NY)
B Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
- Walt Minnick (D-ID)
B Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
- Mark Schauer (D-MI)
- Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
B David Scott (D-GA)
B Zachary Space (D-OH)
- Timothy Walz (D-MN)
- Frank Lucas (R-OK)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- K. Michael Conaway (R-TX)
- Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
- Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
- Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
- Sam Graves (R-MO)
- Timothy Johnson (R-IL)
- Steve King (R-IA)
- Robert Latta (R-OH)
- Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)
- Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)
- Jerry Moran (R-KS)
- Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Mike Rogers (R-AL)
- Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
- Adrian Smith (R-NE)
- Glenn Thompson (R-PA)
*=House Organic Caucus member
B=Blue Dog Democrat

Appropriations
Chair: Dave Obey (D-WI)
Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: P Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
- Sanford Bishop (D-GA)
* Allen Boyd (D-FL)
- Lincoln Davis (D-TN)
*P Sam Farr (D-CA)
*P Maurice D. Hinchey (D-NY)
P Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
P Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
- Jack Kingston (R-GA)
- Rodney Alexander (R-LA)
- Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)
* 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)
- Susan Davis (D-CA)
P Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
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)
- Jared Polis (D-CO)
- Robert Scott (D-VA)
- Joe Sestak (D-PA)
- Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)
P John Tierney (D-MA)
- Dina Titus (D-NV)
- Paul Tonko (D-NY)
P Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
- David Wu (D-OR)
- Buck McKeon (R-CA)
- Judy Biggert (R-IL)
- Rob Bishop (R-UT)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- Michael Castle (R-DE)
- Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
- Luis F Fortuno (R-PR)
- Brett Guthrie (R-KY)
- Peter Hoekstra (R-MI)
- Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA)
- John Kline (R-MN)
- Kenny Marchant (R-TX)
- Tom McClintock (R-CA)
- Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
- Thomas Petri (R-WI)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Todd Russell Platts (R-PA)
- Tom Price (R-GA)
- Mark Souder (R-IN)
- GT Thompson (R-PA)
- Joe Wilson (R-SC)
P=Congressional Progressive Caucus

House Organic Caucus
Congressional Progressive Caucus

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ACTION: Help Organic Dairy Farmers

by: Jill Richardson

Mon May 04, 2009 at 08:00:00 AM PDT

Dairy is in the worst crisis since the Great Depression right now. Dairy farmers are getting about $1 per gallon of milk, less than the cost of production. That means they are losing money for every cow they have to feed and care for, every single month. With even 50 cows the losses can be substantial, but imagine the farms that have 100 cows, or more!

Organic dairy farmers are getting more than conventional farmers - more than $1/gallon - but because organic dairy is having problems too, some farmers are losing their production contracts. So - if nobody will buy your milk, it's worth nothing. And if the only other buyers in your area aren't organic, well... nobody's gonna pay you the organic price for your milk if they aren't getting organic prices from the customers.

Organic Consumers Association has an action alert here. Scroll to the bottom to take action. And spread the word to your friends!

(Also - if you've got time to take action on a second item - please tell the USDA you endorse OCF's comments to the NOSB. Translation: You endorse the Organic Consumer Fund's comments to the National Organic Standards Board about how we can keep the organic standards strong.)

Jill Richardson :: ACTION: Help Organic Dairy Farmers

Tags: dairy, Action Alert, (All Tags)

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ACTION: Help Organic Dairy Farmers | 11 comments

our local grocery stores (4.00 / 4)

carry Horizon and one of them has "O," a Safeway line, rated respectively 0 and 1 on a scale of 5 by The Cornucopia Institute. They dropped Organic Valley, alas, though it was only running a little more than these other brands. But that was enough to kill its sales, with an uninformed public.

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

by: Miep @ Mon May 04, 2009 at 12:10:47 PM CDT

by: you @ soon

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should have read the articles first (4.00 / 4)

So they are praising Horizon for honoring their contracts to farmers and castigating OV for not doing so? What does this mean in the context of Horizon (according to Cornucopia) not providing as high a quality product as OV, and not being open to watchdog group inspections?

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

by: Miep @ Mon May 04, 2009 at 12:14:33 PM CDT

by: you @ soon

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oh shit (4.00 / 3)

I didn't read that. I'll ask OCA about that. Horizon's been dumping on their farmers too lately.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

by: Jill Richardson @ Mon May 04, 2009 at 20:03:00 PM CDT

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by: you @ soon

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I was thinking it read like (4.00 / 3)

Horizon affecting the market so heavily that they are driving better dairies out of business, because they only do exactly what they have to do, the bare minimum, cut corners, and have no ethics. Something like that.

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

by: Miep @ Mon May 04, 2009 at 23:31:57 PM CDT

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Horizon's been lowering its prices (4.00 / 3)

and increasing its market share, but has been threatening small farmers to cut their contracts while building a new factory farm. And the effect of Horizon's low prices hurts all other brands of organic milk.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

by: Jill Richardson @ Mon May 04, 2009 at 23:45:26 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

yep (4.00 / 2)

my thoughts exactly

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

by: Miep @ Wed May 06, 2009 at 21:51:46 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

oh, and I didn't mean to chastise you (4.00 / 1)

I just realized that it read that way - I was talking to myself!

"If God were to appear to starving people, he would not dare to appear in any other form than food." - Mahatma Gandhi

by: Miep @ Sun May 10, 2009 at 01:14:45 AM CDT

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oh shit (4.00 / 2)

by: Jill Richardson @ Mon May 04, 2009 at 20:03:00 PM CDT

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by: you @ soon

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Any chance some of the smaller organic farms (4.00 / 3)

can get out into the farmers markets since it "tis the season"? I didn't read through the links because my eyes are dead tonight, but is there any effort to redirect the dairy products to farmers markets, local schools, day and summer camps, hospitals and other care facilities etc? Granted, may not be as large of a market, but it's something. And it's supports local communities.

I'm doing my bit this week. Getting milk not just to drink/for coffee, but also for yogurt and ice cream from a local dairy :)

by: nycstray @ Mon May 04, 2009 at 23:37:25 PM CDT

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I hope so and that'd be great (4.00 / 2)

I wonder what the requirements would be, i.e. whether these dairies have bottling facilities or if they typically sell their milk to companies that process them into cheese, yogurt, and ice cream.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

by: Jill Richardson @ Mon May 04, 2009 at 23:44:24 PM CDT

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I know we have facilities here. (4.00 / 2)

I'll have to check with the one I like, but I'm pretty sure they bottle their own. They have recently gone into ice cream also. I also know then Sen Clinton got an "earmark" for a dairy here to go solar and it sounded like a decent sized dairy (but not to the big ag level iirc)

We may need to re-look at the farm bill for schools and such. What comes to mind is that insane thing about farmers washing, cutting and bagging their produce and not being able to have it in the schools because it is now "processed" food.

It just seems that the dairy farms that had contracts with some of these larger companies should have some way of redirecting their product to other uses within the states. The dairy I buy from is at Union Sq and my 'hoods farmer's markets and in many of the mom and pops around me. If there isn't easily accessible ways to redirect the product from the smaller farms, there should be. No way in heck should we be losing these smaller dairies. But I guess big production would like that . . .

Heh, bottom of the 9th, Yankees/Sox, tying run on base, no outs, almost 1AM lol!~

by: nycstray @ Mon May 04, 2009 at 23:59:06 PM CDT

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ACTION: Help Organic Dairy Farmers | 11 comments