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: 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)
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
By federal law, coal companies have to restore the land they used back to an as-good-or-better condition than it was in when they started mining. However, that is in terms of commercial value, not ecological value. Coal mining can wreak havoc on a landscape, and then turn that ravaged landscape into something like big box stores or residential housing. But thanks to the efforts of one bee enthusiast by the name of Tammy Horn, there are wide swaths of former coal strip mines that are returning to ecologically diverse forest land, bolstering hope for not only a once-again thriving local ecosystem but also a stronger local economy. [...]
Currently there are 53 hives on five sites, but Horn hopes some 25,000 hives could be supported on former strip mines. "Coal companies have created over 33,000 acres of reclaimed land. Within these isolated areas, we can produce bees that are better acclimated to the region and, in effect, create 'genetic islands' of bee colonies that will aid in preserving biodiversity of bees and plants in North America."
The article by Jaymi Heimbuch at Planet Green goes on to explain how Horn got the right people interested in restoring the forest undercanopy at former strip mine sites, as opposed to just growing hardwood trees for future logging.
Several of the sites are next to communities with high poverty rates. The sites, while also the object of some vandalism, have helped to educate people on how bees benefit them, and how they can be used in cottage industries like soap making and honey. Horn hosts field trips for community members and school children, and these sites serve as training sites rather than production.
The more remote sites are used for research on bee populations, including how to breed bees that are stronger, and more adapted to the area. Horn is working on research for raising queen bees at these locations, hoping that their distance from industrial agriculture will help with research.
I've been stuck in the airport, waiting for a flight for a now-canceled trip to DC. Here's what I've been reading while I'm stuck here:
Fed Up With School Lunch is a blog by a teacher who vowed to eat school lunch for a year. It's fascinating but the meals are GROSS and in my opinion nobody should make that kind of a sacrifice on their health, even for such a good cause.
Bad news from Linda Rivera the woman who got E. coli from Nestle Tollhouse cookie dough. Her condition was getting better and now it's worsened due to liver problems.
Here's a directory of mail order seed companies from Mother Earth News. Now that I've gotten into gardening I am more fed up than ever with the consolidation in the seed industry, and I'm quite frustrated that all of the seeds I've bought so far are from Seeds of Change, which is owned by M&M/Mars.
Yesterday I wrote a summary of Obama's food policy for Firedoglake. It feels a little redundant to post it here because if you're a regular reader of this blog, nothing in there should be news to you.
This week, I had an inspiration. I spoke to Stacey of BK Farmyards in Brooklyn, NY. They run a CSA program out of people's backyards in New York City. What a great idea! If she can do it, why not me? So I sent out an email asking for a guinea pig. Who would offer up their yard for me to farm it? The homeowner would pay a price like a real CSA, except it would be less expensive because they were donating the land. A woman responded and I met with her Wednesday. Then a few friends responded that they had a similar idea to start a CSA program out of backyards, and perhaps we could work together. Awesome! Maybe I can turn Flower Power Farm into a reality! So here's what happened...
I'm so proud of my friend Lori (who can I proudly call MA State Rep. Lori Ehrlich) for her column, All neighbors have stake in power-plant suit. This is only tangentially related to food, but Lori has been a champion of sustainable food as well as clean energy and corporate responsibility for many years - long before she ever got into state politics.
Her column is about a fight against a local coal-fired power plant that got grandfathered in by the Clean Air Act in 1970 and to this day has not cleaned up its act. As Lori notes, "even though they have a more lax set of federal emission standards with which to comply, a recent examination of the plant's own records revealed hundreds of violations - 286 during 2005-2008 and the first three quarters of 2009." So a conservation group took them to court over it.
She ends by saying:
The stakeholders in this case are more than just the residents of Salem. While tax revenue stays within city limits, air pollution only listens to the wind. The plant's coal waste once contaminated drinking water for three communities, and mercury from the plant is ingested by the fish we eat. Everyone in the surrounding communities has a stake in this power plant and the outcome of this lawsuit.
We must no longer allow Dominion [the power company] to hijack our health for profit - they must be held accountable. This lawsuit will test in the courts the ability of the plant owners to ignore public health and sidestep federal regulations. In fact, they may choose to close the plant rather than comply. The city of Salem and its neighbors will need to plan for this eventuality and the reuse of this valuable property. Let us work together with our neighbors towards the day when a clean, sustainable use for that special place will replace this dirty, poisonous plant and provide real value to Salem and the surrounding communities.
"It was just overwhelming in the country that people didn't like it, and I think they took that feedback to heart," said Mary Kay Thatcher, public policy director of the American Farm Bureau Federation, which had opposed the identification system. "I think it's good they've at least said we're going to do something different."
Umm... no. The American Farm Bureau helped develop NAIS and originally supported making the program mandatory for anyone who owned any of a long list of animals, even if the animal was just a pet (like a pot-bellied pig or a horse). The defeat of NAIS is entirely thanks to grassroots outrage, opposition, and plain old refusal to comply NO MATTER WHAT. That opposition stalled the USDA long enough that Congress eventually yanked some of NAIS's funding because the USDA was essentially just wasting all of its NAIS funding, trying to get the program in place and utterly failing. When Vilsack came into office, he set up "listening sessions" about NAIS all over the country. The attendance at those listening sessions was overwhelmingly anti-NAIS.
The listening session transcripts are no longer up on the USDA's site (as best I can tell) but fortunately, Google never forgets anything :) Below, I've posted a quote by the Farm Bureau at one of the listening sessions, followed by a quote by a farmer that is more typical of what was heard at these listening sessions.
In short, there will be a new system but it will ONLY cover animals moving across state lines. NAIS would have covered ALL animals (even pets) even if they were born and died on the same farm. The new system will be "minimally intrusive" but it remains to be seen what that actually means. NAIS was extremely intrusive as all animal movements and life events (births, deaths, etc) had to be reported within a brief timeframe after it happened. Also, the new system will use "lower cost technology"... that part is vague, but it implies that microchipping will not be a mandatory part of this program.
The end result will be a meeting in March of this year, followed by a proposed rule this fall. We will be able to comment on the proposed rule when it is published in the federal register.
Below, I've included some of the Q&A's from the APHIS document.
Starting Monday, Monsanto is selling a new, special brand of onions called "EverMild." As far as I know, these onions are NOT transgenic (i.e. NOT developed using genetic engineering). And for now, they are only sold in one grocery store in St. Louis. These are sweet onions that are grown domestically in what is normally the off-season. Therefore, if you're interested in buying USA and you like sweet onions (and you think Monsanto is awesome), these are for you!
As the article notes, this is Monsanto's first attempt to brand a vegetable for consumers in the U.S. We can expect to see more in the future.
From the New York Times today: "U.S.D.A. Plans to Drop Program to Trace Livestock." This is GREAT news!!!! Many small farmers thought the National Animal ID System (NAIS) would put them out of business if it was implemented. Currently, the policy is (or was?) "voluntary" but certain states were enforcing it as mandatory. But while the current version of NAIS is going away, the big question is "What will replace it?" The NYT says:
In abandoning the program, called the National Animal Identification System, officials said they would start over in trying to devise a livestock tracing program that could win widespread support from the industry.
Start over in trying to devise a livestock tracing system? That means they haven't totally given up. The USDA has a conference call scheduled at noon EST to discuss this decision. I will follow up after that if I hear about any new news on this topic.
(FYI, we're supposed to eat only 10 teaspoons of sugar PER DAY!!!! - promoted by Jill Richardson)
By Ed Bruske
aka The Slow Cook
Yesterday I stopped by the cafeteria at my daughter's school here in the District of Columbia--H.D. Cooke Elementary--and this is what many of the kids were having for breakfast: A package of sugar-glazed cookies called Kellogg's Crunchmania Cinnamon buns; chocolate- or strawberry-flavored milk; grape juice.
A 1.76-ounce packet of Crunchmania contains 13 grams of sugar, or 3 tespoons. Chocolate milk packs 26 grams of sugar, somewhat more than 6 teaspoons. And the grape juice delivers 18 grams of sugar in a little four-ounce container, another four-plus teaspoons. Altogether, that's more than 13 teaspoons of nutritionally worthless sugar first thing in the morning, courtesy of the public school system and its food service provider, Chartwells.
Message to President Obama: Why Trade Will Not Save Rural America
February 3rd, 2010 By Paula Crossfield
In Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack's op-ed this week in the Des Moines Register, he recognized that hunger could not be solved by raising production, because production is in fact at record highs. Grappling with how these increases in productivity have not led to increases in profit, he explained that even though we've lost a million farmers in the last 40 years, "income from farming operations declined as a percentage of total farm family income by half." He continued, "Today, only 11 percent of family farm income comes from farming, which may explain why fewer young people go into farming and why many families rely on off-farm income opportunities to keep their farms." Vilsack gets the situation right, but his remedy is wrong. Instead of encouraging diversity and altering the pattern of overproduction which pits large farm owners against small by shrinking margins, the Obama administration's way of dealing with the discrepancy in rural America is through increasing trade.
Seattle is launching a "Year of Urban Agriculture"!!! (Just a note... P-Patch is Seattle-speak for "community garden." It took me several days to figure that out when I visited Seattle last summer. At first, after hearing about so many P-Patches, I wondered why Seattle residents were growing so many peas!)
Want to see something totally awesome? Check out this infographic of Obama's proposed 2011 budget. The budget itself may not be awesome, but the infographic sure is. Hover your mouse over each spot to find out what it represents. And, while you're at it, click "Hide mandatory spending" and then note the size of military spending compared to everything else. Hint: Ag is a tiny little box in the bottom right corner.
I don't think much needs to be said about the recent Supreme Court decision because it's so godawful that it should be obvious to everyone, but this picture cracks me up.
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