States Should Copy PA's PATH to Organic Program

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 12:12:10 PM PST

The Big Bad Wolff is No More

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Aug 28, 2009 at 21:34:43 PM PDT

Wolff, a dairy farmer, made national headlines when he tried to ban rbGH-free labels on milk in Pennsylvania. This measure was met by widespread popular outcry, leading PA Gov Rendell to overturn it. More recently, Wolff's name has been tossed around as a possible USDA appointee in the Obama administration. We seem to be in the clear, at least for now - he says he's pursuing opportunities in the private sector. I'm sure he won't be doing anything good. Let's keep an eye on Wolff and see what he does.

The Next Time Someone Maligns a "Massachusetts Liberal"...

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Aug 26, 2009 at 09:09:53 AM PDT

I'm wrapping up the first leg of my book tour. I just packed. I've spent the past few days in Massachusetts, and before that I was in Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania. It was my first visit to New England as an adult, and my first time here actually meeting with people who live here instead of just doing touristy things like visiting Paul Revere's house. And... wow. Now I know why people put up with all of the snow and mosquitoes to live here. It's wonderful.

So here's a thank-you diary with my pictures and info on some of the amazing people and organizations I met. If you live in one of the states I visited, I hope you use the info here to get involved locally.

Book Tour Update: From Amish Country to New York City

by: Jill Richardson

Sun Aug 09, 2009 at 12:23:36 PM PDT

Eddie C met me at Penn Station and we barely made it two blocks before he pointed out a New York favorite... an Italian-owned cheesecake place that's been making delicious desserts for longer than I've been alive. We stopped in for some treats and continued on to Brooklyn. We're currently at my publisher's place, relaxing a bit before meeting up with Sidnora, the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, and the Brooklyn Food Coalition at 4:30pm.

The Pennsylvania trip was wonderful. This is exactly what I wanted from the book tour. Really, the book is an excuse to build the movement. In Lancaster, I spoke to a few guys who were interested in food justice and setting up farmers' markets in low income areas. We've got a market like that in San Diego so we shared ideas from Lancaster, Chicago (where one of the guys currently works... he's just visiting friends in Lancaster now), and San Diego. We exchanged email addresses and I hope to put them in touch with the folks in charge of the San Diego City Heights farmers market.

Later that evening, I gave a talk to about 20 people at a bookstore. The Q&A continued until I had been speaking for a total of 2 hours... lesson learned that I need to wrap things up quicker in the future, but it was exciting that everyone was so engaged. The Q&A gave a really local focus to the event, because we talked about groups people could get involved with locally, Pennsylvania state politics, and PA's Senators role in national politics. Much of the Q&A was more of a conversation between various members of the audience, and that was really exciting. I learned a lot from them, and they filled in local details that I didn't know about. It was neat to hear a Pennsylvanian's point of view about how the people in the state organized to save their milk labels 2 years ago. I was involved in that, but from a distance, and it was inspiring that the people of Pennsylvania got a chance to take action and see their own impact when their outcry caused the Governor to overturn a decision of the Secretary of Agriculture.

I've got a few pictures so hopefully later I'll be able to upload them and share them. If you're in New York, join us tonight in Brooklyn or tomorrow in Manhattan - details are at http://www.recipeforamerica.org

An Amazing Day in Lancaster, PA

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Aug 07, 2009 at 21:50:19 PM PDT

What I love about it most is that it's scalable... if new farms want to be part of a CSA, they don't have to do it all by themselves. Instead they can join Lancaster Farm Fresh, where they will automatically have a market for their goods and plenty of years of experience guiding them to be successful. This way, the farms can share trucks and warehouses, as well as non-farming jobs like marketing. And (my favorite part) because the cooperative is all organic with strict standards for humane treatment of animals, several farms have really shaped up the way they grow crops and raise livestock in order to join the cooperative.

What I found most impressive was the story of one farmer in particular. Last year I visited Aaron's beautiful farm when he showed a group of us foodies around. It was very clear how much he loves farming, and I loved this innovative contraption he'd come up with to harvest tomatoes. His tomatoes grew in a hoophouse, if I remember right, and he had lightweight, movable shelving hung from the ceiling that he could pull along with him as he harvested tomatoes, placing the tomatoes he picked in boxes on the shelves as he went.

The story continues this year, when blogger Anonymous Bosch took me to Reading Terminal Market. I went looking for the Lancaster Farm Fresh stand while we were there. When we found it, he looked at the heirloom tomatoes and said he thought that his wife bought these exact tomatoes recently. When we went back to his place, I saw that he did have that variety of tomatoes at home. Little did I know that Aaron - the very same man whose farm I visited last year - grew the tomatoes!!!

Today I visited Lancaster Farm Fresh again and spoke with Casey, the same person who led the tour last year. He showed us the heirloom tomatoes and commented that they were Aaron's. "Wait a second," I said, "Didn't we visit his farm last year?" Casey confirmed that yes, we (attendees of a food conference I attended who took the field trip to Lancaster, PA) did visit that farm. Wow. Talk about things coming full circle.

I was sorry to hear that Aaron shattered his leg in two places this year and he's been unable to work. However, I was thrilled to hear that in the classic Amish style (similar to a barnraising, where an entire community comes together to build an Amish family a barn all in one day), the community came together to plant Aaron's crops and they've been taking care of them and harvesting them while he's recovering from his injury. I realize that many people think that progress left the Amish in the dust, but in terms of their strong community and willingness to help one another out in their times of need, I think they are far ahead of the rest of us.

Many thanks to Lydia of SSBN and blogger Monkeybiz for hosting me while I'm here in beautiful Lancaster, and thanks to Casey of Lancaster Farm Fresh for taking time to chat with me today. This is one of the most beautiful areas in the entire country in my opinion and I'm just thrilled to have a chance to visit for the second time in a year.

Sampler Platter

by: Jill Richardson

Sat Jul 25, 2009 at 06:00:00 AM PDT

• What happens when a cropduster gets too close to an organic farm? Nothing good.

• Wanna take some action against NAIS? Click on the link and send an email to the USDA.

• Why are artisan producers so important? Read this article on a local salumi company and you'll begin to understand. From the age, breed, and feed of the pigs to the lack of nitrates to the unique recipes, Knight Salumi produces a product that just cannot be obtained through our corporate food system.

• "Three wise men" made a pilgrimage to DC last week: Wes Jackson, Wendell Berry, and Fred Kirschanmann. Here's a Q&A with the trio. I sure hope the politicians who met with them valued their input.

• Organics grew 118% (by acreage) worldwide between 2000 and 2007. Organics are still less than 1% of global agriculture, however. 97% of spending on organics occurs in the U.S. and E.U. I think this is probably only looking at CERTIFIED organics - who knows how much uncertified land is managed organically in developing countries by people who never converted to industrial techniques.

• ACTION: Re-examine our trade agreements. The TRADE Act looks like a great bill to support.

• A Pennsylvania school board didn't want to hear the consequences of allowing a CAFO to locate near where the school buses are parked. You can see the presentation they WOULD have seen at the link.

• Here's a great article on bogus "local" campaigns by major corporations who are anything but.

• Hillary Clinton thinks Indian farmer suicides are due to a need for loans. Well, sort of. If you want to take a really shallow view of it, then yes. But there's a lot more to the story than just that, and I doubt Hillary wants to "go there" because it might involve questioning free trade and industrial agriculture.

• Food stamps are getting easier to use at farmers' markets, says the NYT. GOOD. This is a very hot topic near where I live. We had no markets that took food stamps a little over a year ago. Now we have several, and it really wasn't that difficult to set up (so I'm told). Yet, most markets around here STILL don't take food stamps, because those in charge haven't taken the steps to do so (and presumably either haven't thought about it or don't want to).

• What's going on in California's Central Valley? Well, it's not good. As the water dried up, so did the paychecks. This article calls Fresno "California's Detroit."

• A new study smacks down Monsanto. From the abstract:

  Chronic health effects are increasing in the world such as cancers, hormonal, reproductive, nervous, or immune diseases, even in young people. During regulatory toxicological subchronic tests to prevent these on mammalian health, prior commercialization of chemicals, including pesticides and drugs, or GMOs, some statistically significant findings may be revealed. This discussion is about the need to investigate the relevant criteria to consider those as biologically significant. The sex differences and the non linear dose or time related effects should be considered in contrast to the claims of a Monsanto-supported expert panel about a GMO, the MON 863 Bt maize, but also for pesticides or drugs, in particular to reveal hormone-dependent diseases and first signs of toxicities.

Philly's Universal Feeding Program: Saved!

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Jun 05, 2009 at 16:01:44 PM PDT

The USDA is cutting off Philadelphia's "Universal Feeding" school lunch program. The program waives the requirement of filling out paperwork and automatically guarantees free school breakfasts and lunches to children at schools in poor areas. Compared to schools that require paperwork to qualify children for meals, Philly's schools boast nearly twice the participation rate. Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Janey Thornton said it was unfair for kids in Philly to get free food without extending that to children nationwide. Well... why not extend this program to schools in poor areas nationwide then??

As this news broke, PA Representatives Fattah and Sestak and PA Senator Casey met with Tom Vilsack to oppose the USDA's decision. Sestak said at the time he was drafting legislation to continue Philly's Universal Feeding and to extend the program to other cities.

Today, we've got good news! Philly's Universal Feeding Program is saved! And not only that, but we can expect to see legislation from Fattah as well as Sestak to expand the program nationally. Fantastic!

UPDATE: Arlen Specter just introduced this bill that would continue the program through the 2012/2013 school year.

Action Alert in Pennsylvania: They'll take my state parks from my cold, dead hands!

by: rossl

Fri Jun 05, 2009 at 15:43:18 PM PDT

The Pennsylvania Senate's proposed budget, SB 850, would cut the Department of Conservation and Natural Resource's budget so much that they might have to close about 35 state parks.  With 117 state parks in PA, that's a huge chunk, and chances are there would be a state park near you closing if you live in Pennsylvania.

Go below the fold to see how you can take action.

Specter Switches Parties

by: Jill Richardson

Tue Apr 28, 2009 at 14:01:06 PM PDT

With Specter as a 59th Democrat, Al Franken will make #60 as soon as he takes office. That means that the Republicans' "we-will-filibuster-everything" game is up. Ha!

(By the way - Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, we will welcome you two into our big tent if you'd like. The tent flap is WIDE open.)

Dark Day in Pennsylvania

by: Asinus Asinum Fricat

Wed Feb 04, 2009 at 15:14:32 PM PST

The Center for Science in the Public Interest has urged Pennsylvanian officials to ignore the advice of a task force on trans fat, which concluded that a mandatory ban

"could be more harmful from a health perspective".

According to the Pennsylvania Trans Fat Task Force, it was set up to devise a strategy to reduce the state's consumption of trans fat, and concluded that a public education program combined with industry encouragement to make the switch could be more effective than an outright ban.

Meet Your Leaders: Tim Holden

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Oct 15, 2008 at 17:53:30 PM PDT

Tim is the number 2 Dem on the House Ag committee. He's also on the Livestock, Poultry, and Dairy subcommittee. Chris Bowers of OpenLeft categorizes him as a Bush Dog Democrat, a Democrat who consistently votes with Bush. His district leans Republican, and he is one of the most conservative northern Democrats.

Contact Information
DC: 202-225-5546 (phone); 202-226-0996 (fax)

District Offices: 717-234-5904 (Harrisburg); 570-622-4212 (Pottsville); 610-921-3502 (Temple); 717-270-1395 (Lebanon)

Chief of Staff: Trish Reilly
Scheduler: Jake Oster
Legislative Director: Keith Pemrick
Press Secretary: Trish Reilly

Tim Holden's Congresspedia Page