Vilsack's new chief of staff is one of the "sustainable dozen"

by: desmoinesdem

Sun Jan 10, 2010 at 15:37:20 PM PST

It's encouraging to know that a voice for family farmers and sustainable practices will be running Vilsack's office. In recommending Ross for an under-secretary position at the USDA, Michael Dimock of Roots of Change wrote more than a year ago,

Karen will represent well the diverse crops of our nation's largest agricultural state. We know she will be a voice of innovation and adaptation that will support full expression of a sustainable agriculture over time. She did a great job shepherding the State Board's recent visioning process for agriculture that rendered what we see as a very constructive vision for our future. Karen has also been a defining and constructive voice in the [Roots of Change]-funded California Roundtable for Agriculture and the Environment.

The visioning process Dimock mentions was California Ag Vision, an "effort to develop a broad consensus on how California might arrive at a farming and food system that can be sustained by the year 2030."

Ross will replace Iowa native John Norris, who did not come from an agriculture background but had worked closely with Governor Vilsack for years. Norris agreed to be Vilsack's chief of staff at USDA with the understanding that it would be a temporary position. Norris was pursuing a spot on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, to which the Senate confirmed him in December. Having completed his work as Vilsack's chief of staff, Norris will start work next week at the FERC.

Sustainable food as economic engine

by: desmoinesdem

Tue May 26, 2009 at 11:41:44 AM PDT

I liked how Murphy made the economic case for changing agriculture policies in yesterday's Des Moines Register article. Health and environmental concerns sparked my interest in buying local food produced sustainably, but Murphy is wise to connect the dots between agriculture policies and the economic future of rural areas. For more along those lines, read the feature on Murphy and Food Democracy Now from the Washington Post in March.

Speaking of Iowans who are incredibly committed to helping small and medium-sized farms thrive, Woodbury County's rural economic development director Rob Marqusee has pledged to "eat only food grown within 100 miles of the Woodbury County Courthouse for the entire month of June 09 (and no meat will be allowed in the diet)." Keep an eye on Marqusee's Woodbury Organics site next month, because he'll be blogging about his food challenge.  

Last day to help end "factory farm bailout"

by: desmoinesdem

Fri Apr 17, 2009 at 08:03:04 AM PDT

Food Democracy Now sent out an action alert on Thursday reminding supporters that comments on making EQIP work for sustainable and organic farmers must be received by the USDA by the close of business on April 17 (today).

You can fax your letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (202-720-4265) or submit your comments online (Food Democracy Now has instructions on that process).

Click here and scroll down the page for talking points and a sample letter on this issue. However, it's always better to put these things in your own words if possible. I've posted Food Democracy Now's sample letter after the jump. If you are writing your own letter, make sure it goes to the correct address and says this near the top:

Re: Docket Number NRCS- IFR-08005 Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Final Rules

UPDATE: Important if you're sending a comment on closing farm subsidy loophole

by: desmoinesdem

Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 12:55:16 PM PDT

Please send your comments to: Dan McGlynn via Mara Villegas at: mara.villegas@wdc.usda.gov
[...]
At this point you can do 1 of 3 things:

1. You can resend your comments to mara.villegas@wdc.usda.gov
2. Fax the letter in at: (202) 690-2130
3. Go to Regulation.gov and send your letter in using that website form.

http://www.regulations.gov/fdm...

If you go to Regulations.gov please realize that it is a several step process in order to submit your comments.

We have provided the proper steps to follow on our website.

http://www.fooddemocracynow.or...

Thanks again for all you do, we appreciate your continued efforts on this important subject.

Last day for comments on closing corporate farm subsidy loophole

by: desmoinesdem

Sun Apr 05, 2009 at 15:43:38 PM PDT

President Barack Obama promised during his budget speech to a joint session of Congress in February to "end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don't need them." Food Democracy Now's action alert noted,

Today's current subsidy system allows large corporate farms to take advantage of subsidy loopholes that place independent family farmers at a serious competitive disadvantage.

Because of loosely written management and labor requirements in the Farm Bill, corporate farmers are allowed to use multiple partnerships, passive investors and sham "paper" farms to funnel huge multimillion dollar annual subsidy payments to corporate entities that don't do any real work on the farm, but use the ownership as an entitlement to bilk payments from the government.

As a result, giant corporate millionaire "farmers" are driving independent family farmers off the land, using their ill-gotten gains, supplied courtesy of taxpayers, to outbid small, midsized and new farmers who want to buy or rent new crop ground.

Food Democracy Now provided a sample e-mail that you can cope and paste into your own message. I've posted it after the jump, and you can also find it here. If you can put the message in your own words, that's wonderful, but any comment you can send by the close of business on Monday is better than nothing.

However you write the main text of your message, put this in the subject line:

Comment on Farm Program Payment Limitation Rule, Federal Register, Vol. 74, No. 23, February 5, 2009

Discouraging news on food safety appointments

by: desmoinesdem

Sat Mar 07, 2009 at 12:43:02 PM PST

There's a possibility that former Monsanto executive Michael Taylor and irradiation proponent Dr. Michael Osterholm will be named to top food safety spots in the new Administration. [...]
1. Michael Taylor, a former Monsanto executive, whose career literally fits the definition of the revolving door between government, lobbying and corporate interests. Before serving on the Obama ag transition team, Taylor made a name for himself rotating in and out of law firms, Monsanto, the USDA and FDA. While at the FDA he helped write the rules to allow rBGH into the American food system and our children's milk.

Now we've learned that Taylor may be in line to run an office in the White House on food safety!

2.  On Monday, Secretary Vilsack is set to announce the appointment of Dr. Michael Osterholm, a food safety expert, to lead the Food Safety agency at the USDA. According to Food  & Water Watch, Osterholm has been "a zealot in promoting th[e] controversial technology (of irradiation) as the panacea to contaminated food."

Irradiation allows food processors to nuke disease from contaminated food at the end of the production line, while ignoring the root problems that create unsafe food.

For Osterholm, the recent peanut butter fiasco apparently was just another example of how irradiation could save the day. "Clearly it's a problem where the raw peanut butter or paste is consumed and not cooked," Osterholm said.

Food Democracy Now wants people to e-mail Vilsack immediately, asking him to block these appointments. The action alert included a sample e-mail, which I've posted after the jump, but it's always better to write this kind of letter in your own words.

Help Food Democracy Now! advocate for the change we need

by: desmoinesdem

Sun Feb 22, 2009 at 07:19:50 AM PST

Food Democracy Now! is a grassroots movement initiated by farmers, writers, chefs, eaters and policy advocates who recognize the profound sense of urgency in creating a new food system that is capable of meeting the changing needs of American society as it relates to food, health, animal welfare and the environment.

As such, we are dedicated to advancing the dialogue on food, family farm, environmental and sustainability issues at the legislative and policy level. We understand the dynamic interplay between today's industrialized agricultural system and its impacts on human health and well-being, health care costs, rural communities and the environment. We advocate for policies that encourage sustainable, humane, organic and natural food systems.

We seek to transform today's system by advancing best practices in food production, animal husbandry, conservation of natural resources, renewable energy and soil preservation. Through these efforts we hope to stimulate local food systems, promote rural economic development, encourage a new generation of farmers and respond to the growing public demand for wholesome, fairly-produced food. We will also support candidates who advance this vision and who embrace common sense policies that respect our nation's air, water, soil, livestock, food workers, consumers and family farmers.

Click here and scroll down the page for background on the people who founded Food Democracy Now! Click here to view the list of the petition's 90 original signers.

Next week Food Democracy Now! plans to deliver the petition to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, so they are pushing to reach a goal of 100,000 signatures.

If you haven't done so already, go sign the petition, then ask a few of your friends to sign too.

Two of the "Sustainable Dozen" getting serious consideration at USDA

by: desmoinesdem

Fri Jan 23, 2009 at 05:07:49 AM PST

More than 80,000 people have signed Food Democracy Now's petition supporting sustainable change at the USDA. Click here to sign the petition or click here to forward it to like-minded friends if you have already signed. You can kick in a few bucks to help keep Food Democracy Now going by donating here.

Vilsack unanimously confirmed as Secretary of Agriculture (updated)

by: desmoinesdem

Tue Jan 20, 2009 at 17:40:52 PM PST

The Sunday Des Moines Register ran an article featuring Drake University Law Professor Neil Hamilton, who predicted that Vilsack will do more to reform the US Department of Agriculture than some of his critics anticipate:

His critics see Vilsack as "coming from only part of agriculture, and I don't think that probably is accurate," Hamilton said in an interview after Vilsack's Senate confirmation hearing last week. Hamilton, who has long been an advocate of locally grown food systems, a priority of Vilsack's critics, attended the hearing and chatted with the former governor afterward.

Hamilton persuaded Vilsack as governor to form a state food policy council to promote local food systems, among other ideas.

At last week's Senate confirmation hearing, Vilsack promised to do more to promote local foods.

Discussing Vilsack's record on agriculture issues, Hamilton told the Des Moines Register that

Vilsack couldn't have been expected to be anything but an advocate of biotechnology or ethanol when he was governor. "It would have been hard to be the governor of Iowa, just as it's hard to be the senator from Illinois, without being a supporter of ethanol," Hamilton said in a reference to Obama, a leading supporter of corn ethanol as an Illinois senator.

"The fact that you can see a role for genetic modification and science in agriculture doesn't necessarily mean you don't also see an opportunity for local food and organic" agriculture, Hamilton continued. [...]

Hamilton said he is "very confident that whether it's a year, two years, or four years, that most of the people" who signed the Food Democracy Now! petition "will be impressed and pleased" with Vilsack.

Hamilton was one of the six potential nominees for secretary of agriculture on the Food Democracy Now! petition. He is also one of the "sustainable dozen" that Food Democracy Now! is recommending for undersecretary posts within the USDA.

Those senior appointments will set the tone for Vilsack's tenure. I have no idea whether any of the "sustainable dozen" have a chance to be hired. Unfortunately, Jill Richardson reported recently that some strong advocates for industrial agriculture are being considered for high-ranking USDA positions.

For now I am willing to give Vilsack the benefit of the doubt. I greatly respect Hamilton, who knows the Iowa governor well.

However, if senior USDA posts go to people with strong ties to agribusiness like Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff or Joy Philippi, former president of the National Pork Producers Council, then it will be time to follow the Russian maxim: "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst."

UPDATE: Vilsack will hire John Norris (an early Obama supporter in Iowa) to be his chief of staff at the USDA.

Food Democracy Now pushing "sustainable dozen" for USDA jobs

by: desmoinesdem

Fri Jan 09, 2009 at 06:56:32 AM PST

In November, Food Democracy Now started a petition drive urging President-elect Barack Obama to appoint a secretary of agriculture with a vision for a more sustainable food system.

Now that Obama has decided on Tom Vilsack for this position, Food Democracy Now has launched a new petition:

We want to Thank You for signing the original letter at Food Democracy Now! In just three weeks, more than 60,000 Americans have joined Michael Pollan, Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, Alice Waters, Marion Nestle, Frances Moore Lappé, and Eric Schlosser calling for a sustainable USDA.

Now that the Secretary of Agriculture has been selected, it's more important than ever that we send our message to Washington. Today's farmers need a serious voice for sustainable change at the USDA.

Therefore, Food Democracy Now! has created a list of 12 candidates for the crucial Under Secretary positions that will stand up for family farms, safe food, clear air and water, animal welfare and soil preservation.

We need your help to continue to spread the word to your friends and colleagues to reach our goal of 100,000 signatures in the next two weeks before the Inauguration!

These 12 candidates have spent their lives fighting for family farmers and we're calling them the Sustainable Dozen. Help us send them to Washington.

If you've already signed the petition, please forward this to one other person who cares about these issues to help us reach our goal of 100,000 Americans for a sustainable food system for the 21st century.

Once the Secretary of Agriculture is confirmed, we will deliver this letter with your comments to him and President Obama in Washington DC.

We at Food Democracy Now! are continuing to give voice to these concerns with policy makers at the federal, state and local levels, to gain a seat at the table and keep these issues at the forefront of future policy decisions.

Currently we are MORE THAN 60,000 voices strong. Please help keep this conversation going...Donate today. By donating as little as $5 or $10 you can make a difference in shaping the conversation at the USDA. Through our collective efforts, this letter has successfully reached "the right people" in Washington and we need to continue this vital work to create a future that we can ALL BELIEVE IN.

From all of us at Food Democracy Now! - Have a Happy, Sustainable New Year!

Best,
David Murphy
Food Democracy Now!
http://www.fooddemocracynow.org

The links did not come through when I copied and pasted that message, so please click over to the site to read more.

I've put Food Democracy Now's "sustainable dozen" list after the jump.

More reaction to Vilsack's nomination and good ideas on food policy

by: desmoinesdem

Sun Dec 21, 2008 at 03:05:41 AM PST

A few days ago I posted a Vilsack reaction linkfest at the Iowa progressive community blog Bleeding Heartland, but the hits just keep on coming.

Follow me after the jump for more.

My Interview with Michael Pollan and an AMAZING Grassroots Activist Named David

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Dec 16, 2008 at 09:49:08 AM PST

What makes David unique from so many other Americans who believed in Obama's message of change is that he started a grassroots petition that made it all the way to the New York Times, and now Obama's transition team is taking notice. He's managed to get sign-ons from ALL (literally) of the top names in sustainable food, including NYT bestselling author and columnist Michael Pollan (who is so popular that he can even count Barack Obama among his fans!).

First, sign the petition and then read the interviews below - including statements from Eric Schlosser and Marion Nestle!