LVL Blogger Named to USDA Dairy Advisory Committee!!!!!

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 13:38:39 PM PST

Over the next two years, the committee will review the issues of farm milk price volatility, dairy farmer profitability and consolidation, and offer suggestions on ways USDA can best address the needs of a struggling dairy industry.

The best news of all is that LVL blogger Jim Goodman is on the committee!!!! The USDA announced that the committee would include "producers and producer organizations, processors and processor organizations, handlers, consumers, academia, retailers, and state agencies involved in organic and non-organic dairy at the local, regional, national, and international levels." Goodman is an organic dairy farmer in Wisconsin, a member of Family Farm Defenders, and a Kellogg/IATP Food and Society Policy Fellow.

Here is the full list of members:

Producer members appointed to the committee are: Erick Coolidge (Pa.), Timothy den Dulk (Mich.), Debora Erb (N.H.), James Goodman (Wis.), James Krahn, (Ore.), Edward Maltby (Mass.), Manuel Souza (Calif.), Ed Welch (Minn.), and James Williams (Ga.).

Representatives from the processing industry include: Jay Bryant (Va.), Patricia Stroup (Calif.), Sue Taylor (Colo.), and Robert Wills. (Wis.).

Members representing state government, retail, academia, and consumers are: Rodney Nilsestuen (Wis.), Robert Schupper (Pa.), Andrew Novakovic (N.Y.), and Paul Bourbeau (Vt.).

UPDATE: From the comments:

Paul Bourbeau, VT, Paboco Farms, Inc.
Jay Bryant, VA, Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association
Erick Coolidge, PA, Le-Ma-Ra Farm
Timothy Den Dulk, MI, den Dulk Dairy Farm, LLC
Debora Erb, NH, Springvale Farms/Landaff Creamery, LLC
James Goodman, WI, Northwood Farm
James Krahn, OR, Oregon Dairy Farmers Association
Edward Maltby, MA, Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance
Rodney Nilsestuen, WI, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
Andrew Novakovic, NY, Cornell University
Robert Schupper, PA, Giant Food Stores
Manuel Souza, CA, Mel-Delin Dairy
Patricia Stroup, CA, Nestle
Sue Taylor, CO, Leprino Foods Company, Inc.
Edward Welch, MN, Associated Milk Producers Inc.
James Williams, GA, Williams Dairy Trucking, Inc.
Robert Wills, WI, Cedar Grove Cheese Inc.

Another commenter spoke highly of Ed Maltby, so that's good news too. Plus I wrote a diary to follow up on this one about Bob Wills and Cedar Grove (he's great, his cheese is great). And I've heard some not so good things about Rod Nilsestuen.

Obama's Broken Promises, Disappointing and Dangerous by Jim Goodman

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 22:01:25 PM PST

Obama's broken promises, disappointing and dangerous
by Jim Goodman

"And it means ensuring that the policies being shaped at the Departments of Agriculture and Interior are designed to serve not big agribusiness or Washington influence peddlers, but the family farmers and the American People." President-elect Barack Obama, December 17 2008, Chicago, Illinois.

The message was one of hope, the words of a newly elected President echoing the Populism of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the promise of John F. Kennedy. It stopped there, the delivery of the promise fell short.

Jim Goodman: G8 Clueless on Food Policy

by: Jill Richardson

Thu Aug 28, 2008 at 17:00:00 PM PDT

G8 Clueless on Food Policy

He comments on the G8's eight course banquet during their most recent gathering:

Earlier that day UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged the world to reduce their "unnecessary demand" for food.  Apparently he wasn't speaking to the G8 leaders.

Does the G8 really understand the food crisis? I don't think they have a clue. An eight-course banquet? How demeaning. They invite leaders from African countries affected by the food crisis, hear their pleas, but certainly, do not let them interfere with their agenda, their industrial development, their pleasure.

Talk about NOT leading by example. Good one Jim. Thanks for calling them on it. Read the rest of the piece for Goodman's analysis of their policies.

Jim Goodman Awaits Agriculture's Waterloo

by: OrangeClouds115

Tue Jul 29, 2008 at 08:00:00 AM PDT

What we can do is return to local and regional food production. We can allow the rest of the world to feed themselves by reining in the influence of multinational grain and chemical companies. We can redevelop local communities and keep local dollars local, rather than filling the coffers of offshore corporate bank accounts.

Accepting the value of "smallness" and living more locally is the solution. Embracing small and local addresses the failure of systems - whether it is the failure of the globalized food system to embrace food sovereignty, the failure of capitalism and its penchant to move more wealth to those who already have more than enough, or the failure of an entire society that has based its existence on oil.

Waterloo is synonymous with defeat, but it was also a victory against empire. We need another victory against empire. We need to reclaim our sense of local and realize the necessity of being small and interdependent. We need to end thousands of years of thinking bigger is always better.