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
Tomorrow, San Francisco residents who were misled into thinking that the sewage sludge they received from the city and applied to their gardens was "organic compost" are gathering to protest today at the Mayor's Office. There, they are going to give Gavin back some of the sewage sludge he gave them - and request that the city clean up the school yards and gardens they polluted by handing out sewage sludge labeled as "compost."
A press release from Organic Consumers Association is below and I will follow up with an in-depth story on this (it's truly a national scandal that's absolutely enormous in scope) on Alternet.
Let me first admit some bias. I'm a longtime fan of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and a more recent friend of their director, Ronnie Cummins (read an interview I did with him here). More importantly, over the years I've subscribed to OCA's newsletter and followed their work. I've seen a consistent commitment to do what is in the best interest of organic consumers - people who want to buy food that was produced in the best way for the environment, for people, for animals, and for health and flavor.
So if that's OCA's mission, what's OTA for? They are for organic producers, and while they may represent some of the "little guys" they appear to mostly represent Industrial Organic - the big guys. OTA has even tried to weaken organic standards. As you may have read in The Omnivore's Dilemma, Industrial Organic may follow the letter of the law but it does not always respect the earth or the animals involved. You can raise a chicken that is technically organic, but has a life little better than a conventional, factory farmed chicken. You can grow crops on an enormous farm that is technically organic, but where the soil is no better off than on a conventional farm. OTA might support that. OCA doesn't.
I don't recall nearly as intense a reaction to Bill Clinton's or George Bush's nominees for secretary of agriculture. Either food and farm issues are more salient now than they used to be, or I am noticing it more because Barack Obama is tapping an Iowan to head the USDA.
Organic Consumers Association, a group I strongly support (Ok, full disclosure... I'm on their policy advisory board) is collecting signatures on a petition they plan to give President Obama. I've included the petition below, and you can read it there if you'd like. You can sign the petition here - but why don't you also (not instead) send the text of the petition with your own ideas in your own words to Obama's transition team at the Change.gov site?
This week, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) will meet (Nov 17-19). Among the topics for discussion are organic standards for farmed fish. As the Chicago Tribune put it, the organic definition for fish flounders.
With wild-caught fish the reason is quite simple: if the fish was wild, who the hell knows what it ate? I'd assume it probably ate food that was more natural than anything a fish might eat in captivity, but then there's the question of what kind of pollutants we lovely humans may have added to that wild fish's food. Hmm.
For farmed fish, here's the issue:
But under the proposed standard, farm-raised fish would be considered organic, even if what they eat includes fish meal, which is feed spiked with ground up wild fish.
So a wild fish is not organic, but farmed fish that eats wild fish is? How about not. I'll add to that my own personal concern with this that one of the major problems with some kinds of farmed fish is that it keeps the fish at the top of the food chain throughout their lives, whereas wild fish start lower down on the food chain and only achieve "top of the food chain" status in adulthood. This is significant because the higher you are on the food chain, the more pollutants you accumulate.
One more problem is:
The USDA requires that feed for cows, chickens and the like be 100 percent organic. But under the fish standard, non-organic feed initially would constitute up to 25 percent of the diet of an organically raised fish.
Perhaps NOSB should skip certifying fish and instead allow the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) continue to provide the gold standard of seafood certification.
Groups opposing the proposed fish rules are Consumers Union, Food & Water Watch, Living Oceans Society, and the Center for Food Safety. I've included a statement from them below.
Click through to read the whole case against Vilsack. Among other things, they don't like his advocacy of genetically-engineered crops for food or pharmaceuticals, his tendency to travel in Monsanto's jet, and his support of biofuels.
I can't recall anything Vilsack did as governor to address pollution from conventional farming or to promote sustainable agriculture.
I would much rather see Vilsack in a different post, such as secretary of education. He is very smart, understands policy and works hard, so he would be an asset to the cabinet--just not as agriculture secretary, in my opinion.
Over the past several months, Organic Consumers Association and United Farm Workers have been running a campaign to get Beef Northwest Feeders to treat its workers fairly. Beef NW supplies "natural" beef to Whole Foods and so activists have been pressuring Whole Foods to dump Beef NW as a supplier unless they gave in.
Well, Beef NW gave in! We won! They've reached a settlement with United Farm Workers, although none of those details are public. Here are a few statements from a press release from Country Natural Beef.
Country Natural Beef will continue its two-year cooperation with Food Alliance in developing feedlot standards and certification similar to what we have at the individual ranches. The compassionate treatment of our beef animals and fair, equitable working conditions for the workers who care for them are core values of Country Natural Beef and our urban customers. It is important that we clearly define those values and verify them with third party certification.
The absence of collective bargaining laws governing agricultural workers leaves a void wherein unfairness abounds. Workers who want to organize have no mechanism to do so. Unions who are asked to assist workers have no effective method to engage the employer. The employer has no rules to follow and any activity they perform is portrayed as union busting. Customers of the employer become subject to intense economic pressures. The current situation is uniformly unfair for the worker, the union, the employer, and third parties and invokes discontentment and chaos.
Consumers Union and the Center for Food Safety are calling for improved organic standards for farmed fish. Consumers Union's petition explains the issue very well:
The board recommends that fish can be labeled 'organic' even if they've been fed wild fish, which come from polluted environments and are high in mercury and PCBs. Potentially toxic organic fish? That defeats the whole purpose.
And the board recommends fish raised in open ocean net pens be eligible for the organic label. This type of fish farming is highly polluting, as large amounts of waste are released into the environment.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Check out this article on farmed salmon and sea lice. Also, I strongly recommend checking out Marion Nestle's book What to Eat. She goes into why farmed fish can be higher in PCBs and other toxins than wild fish. It's because essentially the farmed fish live their entire lives at the top of the food chain, where they take in much more contaminants than wild fish who do NOT start their lives at the top of the food chain.
Below, you'll find an open letter to Whole Foods Market from the organic, labor, and fair trade movements. By posting it here, I'd like to add my voice to the others calling for Whole Foods to insist on its suppliers' fair treatment to their workers.
As you may know, I worked at Whole Foods Market for five months in 2007. As an employee, the store had a fun atmosphere and although I have a number of problems with Whole Foods, I also saw some good in them. I heard over and over about their Animal Compassion Fund while I worked there. I also heard a lot about John Mackey, the CEO, being a vegan. It's fantastic - truly fantastic - that the owner of such a major company respects (or at least professes to respect) the rights of animals - but what about humans?
I am all for animal rights, but I am also for human rights. And I don't think it's a question of 'either/or' - we can be for both. Let's respect the rights of all sentient beings on earth, animal or human.
Last week while the most dangerous criminals in America gathered in St. Paul, the Organic Consumers Association showed up with a fantastic goal: Planting Peace. The movement is a cross between the peace movement, the stop global warming movement, and the organics movement... and I have a hunch that MANY of us consider ourselves members of all three. In fact, there's an obvious link between the three causes: OIL. Those of us who want no war for oil also want a sustainable energy solution to replace oil and a sustainable food system to replace the oil-drive one we've got now.
I doubt that too many of the Republicans got the hint from our peaceful friends who joined them in St. Paul, but their presence in St. Paul filled an important role. Organic Consumers Association was one of the relatively few websites or media outlets that reported on the police brutality to RNC protesters. I find it ironic that the anti-democratic thugs went about their convention with impunity while the pro-democracy protesters (including Amy Goodman of Democracy Now) were beaten, pepper gassed, and jailed. What a telling metaphor for the state of our democracy.
Great article: Will there be GMO sugar in your candy? describes Hershey's lack of an answer about whether or not they will use sugar from GM beets in their products. In the past, Hershey, Mars, and others did NOT want to use sugar from GM beets and actually kept the beets "out of the ground."
Now? Sounds like they gave up. The article's author had an incredibly hard time getting answers, but the non-answers she did on whether candy makers will use sugar from GM beets get roughly amounted to "do we really have a choice?" Sigh. Good for Organic Consumers for calling for a boycott.
"1) OCA and numerous other faith-based, consumer advocacy, and farmer focused organizations actually have carried out letter writing campaigns since Fall of 2007, urging Kellogg's, M&M Mars, Hershey's and other corporations to not source GE sugar beets. OCA network members, for example, have sent over 15 thousand letters to Kellogg's before we considered launching a boycott of Kellogg's products.
2) OCA has targeted Kellogg's specifically for several reasons. First, Kellogg's actually produces food that is widely consumed in the United States. M&M/Mars and Hershey's are candy/junk food companies that have a very small percentage of their overall line dedicated to food items. The real nutritional impact of junk food companies switching from genetically engineered high-fructose corn syrup to genetically engineered sugar (sourced from sugar beets) would be relatively insignificant in the big picture
If you shop at a farmers' market, a boycott is easy. Kind of like they say... "I've been boycotting Mercedes for years!" But watch out - Kellogg owns Morningstar Farms, a leading vegetarian brand that sells fake meat. Here is a list of all Kellogg products.
I was going to call this the Organic Consumers Roundup because I would like to occasionally post links to whatever they've got going on over at their site... but I figured "Roundup" maybe wasn't the right word to use around here!
Consumer Rejecting Corn Sweetener - Terrific headline, particularly in light of the $20-$30 mil 18-mo pro-HFCS campaign the Corn Refiners Association is engaged in at the moment.
The Climate Cost of a Glass of Milk - Definitely a good read here. I've tried going vegan for this very reason but, well, I like milk in my coffee. But I certainly try to keep in mind the carbon footprint of animal products and I try to minimize them in my diet. It seems to me though that the article ONLY considers industrial ag techniques and doesn't make a distinction for more sustainable practices (like a small farm that doesn't have a huge lagoon of manure sitting around).
A lot of amazing things came out of Netroots Nation this year, but for me one of the best outcomes was a new friendship with someone who has devoted his entire life to the progressive movement: Ronnie Cummins. If the name doesn't ring a bell, stick with me - I didn't recognize his name either before a mutual friend introduced us, but I certainly recognize the various progressive gains we've made that have his fingerprints on them.
Ronnie heads up the enormous Organic Consumers Association. I asked if I could interview him for a diary to introduce him to my fellow foodies, but as we spoke it became clear that his interests are much broader than a single issue and his role in our movement is relevant to all progressives, whether or not you consider yourself an organic consumer.
The simplest way I can summarize Ronnie's role in our movement - and explain why I hope everyone here will read his story and help me thank him for his work (and then learn from him and work with him as we move forward) - is because Ronnie has harnessed the progressive idealism of the 1960s and grown more sophisticated and effective in his activism in the decades that followed, using new tools like the internet as they became available in a way that has occasionally really shocked and even scared the other side.
