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Appropriations
Chair: Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: Herb Kohl (D-WI)
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- Chris Dodd (D-CT)

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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)
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B Jim Marshall (D-GA)
P Eric Massa (D-NY)
B Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
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B Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
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B David Scott (D-GA)
B Zachary Space (D-OH)
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- 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)
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- Timothy Bishop (D-NY)
P Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
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P Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
P Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
P Phil Hare (D-IL)
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P Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
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P Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
P Dave Loebsack (D-IA)
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P Donald Payne (D-NJ)
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P John Tierney (D-MA)
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P Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
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- Kenny Marchant (R-TX)
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- 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

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New Food Reality Show Suggestions

by: Jill Richardson

Sat Mar 13, 2010 at 00:30:24 AM PST


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Apparently Americans are transfixed by the reality show Undercover Boss, a show in which a boss goes "undercover" to find out what average employees' lives are like on the job. In one show, a boss finds out that a woman who works on a garbage truck has to pee in a cup because the job doesn't allow for any breaks - not even to pee! As I heard this, I realized something. I've long wished more people would read the book Nickeled and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich, which tells of her experiences trying to make a living by working minimum wage jobs. But if you really want the American people to pay attention to something, I guess you have to turn it into a reality TV show. No doubt they are getting a good taste of what Ehrenreich says in her book as they watch Undercover Boss.

With this in mind, here are a few shows I'd like to see in the near future:

Survivor: In this show, the CEO of a company gets to experience the food poisoning his company's products give his customers. The most popular episode would no doubt be when Stewart Parnell, CEO of Peanut Corporation of America, eats his own tainted peanut butter and suffers from salmonella.

Farm Swap: Where an unsustainable farmer trades farms with a sustainable farmer. Imagine what would happen when a guy who farms 2000 acres of corn and soy in Iowa (and maybe owns a nice hog confinement with about 8000 hogs to go with it) trades farms for a week with someone who grows 40 acres of organic veggies and raises chickens on pasture.

Undercover Farmworker: In which people who eat foods go undercover and work in the fields alongside migrant workers picking tomatoes or strawberries. A spin-off version of this show could also feature international locations in which consumers go undercover among coffee and cocoa growers. Sadly, it would probably be illegal to have American children who love chocolate go undercover among child slaves on cacao plantations in Africa.

Ultimate School Lunch Makeover: In each episode, a school cafeteria that serves vile, unhealthy food will get a makeover to serve healthy, delicious, sustainable food to the kids.

Trading Lobbyists: In this show, two opposing sides of an issue will trade lobbyists (and lobbying budgets) for one week. Biotech and pesticide companies will find themselves stuck with no money and nothing more than a few homemade websites and blogs, while sustainable food advocates will suddenly find themselves armed with millions of dollars, corporate jets, the best PR firms in the nation, a full team of skilled lobbyists, access to powerful politicians, and front groups through which they can coordinate their campaigns.

Jill Richardson :: New Food Reality Show Suggestions
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Actually (4.00 / 3)
Farm Swap, Undercover Farmworker and Ultimate School Lunch Makeover are good ideas for legit shows. I'd like to see any one of those.

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." ~ John Wayne

Good ideas! (4.00 / 4)
I would like to see Survivor myself. I thought you might like this article.

http://minnesotaindependent.co...


Mergers and ac quisitions (4.00 / 1)
Ignorance rains (reigns?) in the Senate Ag Committee. From Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Pat Roberts of Kansas

"other small and successful agriculture businesses have merged" to meet demands

Agriculture businesses typically merge because one or both parties are sick or near death.

Such change has led to better income margins for producers

Oh really?

A senatorial mind is a terrible thing to waste. How can people so ignorant of basic facts be expected to usefully contribute to farm policy?


[ Parent ]
transcripts (4.00 / 2)
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND USDA ANNOUNCE UPDATED SCHEDULE FOR AGRICULTURE WORKSHOP ON MARCH 12 IN IOWA

I don't know if video will be available or where it will be available, but supposedly transcripts eventually will be posted at the Antitrust Division website.


[ Parent ]
trans cripts... (4.00 / 2)
for the workshop itself, not necessarily for the townhall.

[ Parent ]
Farm swap twists (4.00 / 3)
The farm swap could be especially interesting because the 2000 acre farmer will have to adapt to direct marketing instead of selling everything to the local elevator. Direct marketing via CSAs, farmers markets, and direct sales to restaurants is a practice that requires considerable ingenuity and seems to be critical to keeping many small farms afloat. There's also the paperwork angle: the big farmer tackles organic certification, while the small farmer will need to learn USDA subsidy paperwork (but fortunately for the hog farmer and unfortunately for the rest of us, no paperwork around use of antibiotics, which are never revealed to the public because it supposedly a "trade secret" how much each uses).

Undercover farm worker has a lot of promise. Like CBS's Undercover Boss, you could send the CEO of McDonald's to pick tomatoes in Florida, or the CEO of Starbucks to work on a coffee plantation.  


Top Chef season 7 in DC? (4.00 / 3)
Rumor has it that Top Chef Season 7 will be set in Washington D.C. (via Eater National), offering the perfect opportunity for some school lunch makeovers. How about a few challenges where the contestants need to stay within the strict school lunch budget (and probably use rudimentary cooking equipment)?  Anyone have connections to Padma, Tom, or high-level contacts at Bravo or the production company?

This suggestion is not (4.00 / 2)
as outrageous or extreme as some might think. It's a great idea, actually. School meal providers seem in desparate need of good recipes. There must be a better way to meet minimum calorie requirements than to load everything with sugar and cheese.

[ Parent ]
A new post at Ethicurean (4.00 / 2)
I wrote a post at the Ethicurean exploring the idea of Top Chef doing school lunch challenges, giving some ideas for challenges & judges, and providing links to sources of info about the school lunch debate.  It turns out that Sen. Lincoln is going to start working on the Child Nutrition reauthorization in committee in 12 days or so.

[ Parent ]
Very good essay. (0.00 / 0)
Timing wouldn't be a problem, would it? The interval between filming and airing, I mean. The episodes would be valuable regardless of what happens in Congress.

[ Parent ]
Jaime Oliver (4.00 / 3)
has a new show called Food Revolution coming soon that may prove to be interesting...

http://abc.go.com/shows/jamie-...

(I finally created an account in order to post and ironically my captcha was "oliwer")

Siobhan
Austin, TX


Captcha... (4.00 / 1)
Captcha always knows what you're thinking.  Heh...

[ Parent ]
another reality show idea (4.00 / 2)
Big Brother: In which Monsanto's seed police try to bust farmers for saving GMO seeds.

"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

I wonder if those court cases are open to the public? (4.00 / 2)
I mean the ones that actually go to trial. If they involve the divulging of trade secrets through testimony, I'll bet they're not.

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." ~ John Wayne

[ Parent ]
Of course, if someone really wanted to know what's in the Monsanto (4.00 / 2)
seed contracts, all you'd have to do is go buy some seed and sign an licensing contract. Then you'd know because you'd be in the system.

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." ~ John Wayne

[ Parent ]
Love it! (4.00 / 3)
Just for fun:
Herb Appeal: where regular folks plant herb gardens in their front flower boxes.
Dancing with the Jars: a home-canning extravaganza
Deer Factor: Humane confrontation while protecting and defending your garden

GreenHouse (4.00 / 2)
a medical investigation show in which the cause of death or illness often turns out to be bad food.

[ Parent ]
LOVE IT! (4.00 / 2)
I want to watch Deer Factor! I have a hunch it would be VERY FUNNY as well as informative. In our own family we've got a story of my dad (the PhD) vs. the squirrels. It took a LONG time for my dad (with his engineering expertise) to outwit the squirrels so they could no longer feed from the so-called squirrel proof birdfeeder.

"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

[ Parent ]
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