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
Today, the House Education & Labor held a hearing on child nutrition before the full committee. You can see the entire hearing on an archived webcast here. The biggest take away I got from the hearing was the idea that when a school has a certain percent of kids who qualify for free or reduced cost lunch, it's cheaper to just give every kid in the school free food instead of paying for the administration and paperwork required to certify each kid who qualifies for the lunch. Sure, some kids will get food who don't qualify, but the school saves money overall while also making sure that everyone who needs to gets fed. Additionally, when every kid gets free food, then no kid has to deal with the stigma of receiving a handout because he or she is poor.
I've written up a summary of the hearing's content below.
Here's the second half of this week's House Ag Committee panel on federal nutrition programs. (See part 1 at the link.) If nothing else, I recommend reading through my summary of Jessup's testimony because it is AWESOME.
Panel II:
Guillermo Valenzuela, MD
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center
Webster Wong, MD
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center
Matthew Sharp, Senior Advocate
California Food Policy Advocates, Los Angeles, California
Edie Jessup, Program Development Specialist
Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Project of Central California Center for Health and Human Services, Fresno, California
Mathew Marsom, Director of Public Health Policy and Advocacy
Public Health Institute, Oakland, California
Claudia Page, Co-Director
The Center to Promote HealthCare Access, Oakland, California
The House Ag Committee held a hearing on Federal Nutrition Programs on Monday of this week (January 25, 2010). There were two panels. This diary covers the first panel, which mostly focuses on food stamps (SNAP) and the USDA and other agencies' efforts to increase participation among those who are eligible.
Panel 1 Lisa Pino, Deputy Administrator
USDA's Food and Nutrition Service
Christine Webb-Curtis, Chief
California Department of Social Services, Food Stamp Branch
Nancy Swanson, Director
Human Services Transitional Assistance Department of San Bernardino, CA
This is the second half of the June 3 food safety hearing discussing Waxman's new food safety bill (You can see part 1 here). While Part 1 featured Margaret Hamburg from the FDA, Part 2 features representatives of industry and non-profits.
This part hearing included testimony from:
Michael Ambrosio, Food Marketing Institute, Vice President Quality Assurance Division, Wakefern Food Corporation
Pamela G. Bailey, President and Chief Executive Officer, Grocery Manufacturers Association
Caroline Smith DeWaal, Safe Food Coalition, Food Safety Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest
Tim F. Jones, MD, State Epidemiologist, Tennessee Department of Health
Thomas E. Stenzel, President and CEO, United Fresh Produce Association
The House Energy & Commerce Committee subcommittee on health held a hearing today covering the Food Safety Enhancement Act, a bill by Henry Waxman. They released a draft of the bill about a week ago, and they will mark up the bill in the near future. While some major food companies are actually FOR the bill, others are (predictably) against it. Companies that were hit by the peanut recall that have since tightened up their own food safety standards are for the bill because they don't want unfair competition from other companies who can cut costs by easing up on food safety. Those against it, obviously, just plain old don't want to be regulated.
This hearing included testimony from:
Dr. Margaret Hamburg, Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration
Michael Ambrosio, Food Marketing Institute, Vice President Quality Assurance Division, Wakefern Food Corporation
Pamela G. Bailey, President and Chief Executive Officer, Grocery Manufacturers Association
Caroline Smith DeWaal, Safe Food Coalition, Food Safety Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest
Tim F. Jones, MD, State Epidemiologist, Tennessee Department of Health
Thomas E. Stenzel, President and CEO, United Fresh Produce Association
This diary covers the first part of the hearing, with the very many opening statements made by members of Congress and the first witness, Margaret Hamburg.
This is the second diary on the April 23 hearing on food safety at the USDA. My apologies for not posting it sooner... it's a long story that involves my internet breaking, but this is still timely as the Ag committee has yet to do anything with a food safety bill. Note that the food safety bill I've been writing about recently covers the FDA only and is currently in the House Energy & Commerce Committee. The House Ag Committee, on the other hand, has jurisdiction over the USDA. Several food safety bills have been assigned to their committee so far but there's no talk yet of anything passing or even moving forward.
The first diary covered the testimony from the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). This diary covers the second panel, which consisted of a number of factory farm representatives. You can basically skip reading what they actually had to say if you want because it can all be summed up as: We're so glad to have the safest food supply in the world and we're committed to food safety. The government's regulatory system is very strict already and it's working - we don't need stricter regulation. Please fully fund the USDA and the FDA. And really, no more regulation.
As previously reported here, there are tiny but detectable amounts of mercury in HFCS. It happens because some chlor-alkali plants use mercury to make caustic soda. Caustic soda is then, in turn, used in the manufacturing process for HFCS. But the good news is that the House has a bill that will fix the problem. And they held a hearing on it in the Energy & Commerce committee on May 12.
The manufacturing process for chlorine and caustic soda also emits mercury pollution into the atmosphere, where it gets into our waterways and our fish. While this bill entirely fixes the mercury in HFCS problem, it will only reduce the amount of mercury in fish. But - that's better than nothing and it's an important step in the solution.
I'm not sure what the chances of this passing are because the Energy & Commerce committee has a LOT on its plate (most prominently, the climate change bill, which it just passed out of committee, and also food safety legislation). But the chair of the committee, Henry Waxman, is a bulldog ("the mustache of justice") so maybe he'll get something done on this issue.
Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., told Vilsack at a House appropriations subcommittee hearing on Wednesday that livestock are "jammed together" in "very, very nasty circumstances." ...
Hinchey asked Vilsack if there is an effort to "reform" livestock farming to "stop these animals from coming so close together."
Vilsack's response? A very diplomatic statement about how most farmers care very much about their livestock and that the USDA is looking into it. Mmm hmm. This is the same thing we hear from factory farmers and their lobby groups constantly. They talk about how well they treat the animals and they frequently use the words "wholesome" and "high quality." What's so wholesome about animals standing shoulder to shoulder, ankle deep in their own manure?
This hearing was on the 2010 budget for the USDA. Vilsack provided testimony outlining the Obama administration's budget requests. I'm going to turn to the experts to understand the budget, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. Highlights from their email on the budget are below.
In today's swine flu hearing, two messages were dominant: 1) The FDA is on track and full steam ahead to prepare for the worst, just in case and 2) It's OK to eat pork. Or, as Sen. Grassley put it, "U can't get swine flu fr eating pork. Eatup. Regardless of epidemic."
Utah Senator Robert Bennett drove this point home even further, specifying that you don't need to avoid bacon wrapped burgers from Wendys. I'd just like to remind Sen. Bennett that perhaps he should avoid bacon wrapped burgers, and not because of swine flu. After all, swine flu won't kill you but heart disease will.
The hearing was held by the Senate Ag Appropriations subcommittee, and there was no mention of any concern over unhealthy conditions on factory farms brought up. They noted that no swine are known to be ill in the U.S. or Mexico and that the sick pigs in Canada were infected by a human. Whether or not this particular flu outbreak came from factory farmed pigs, I think it's a good opportunity for us all to examine the health risks associated with factory farming, yet the Senate committee had no interest in doing that. Their only concern is that Americans and U.S. trading partners continue buying pork.
Many people involved in the local foods movements are aware of NAIS, the National Animal ID System, which, if implemented in full as a mandatory program, will require anyone, large or small, commercial, homesteader, or hobbyist, to register with their state, ID their animals either by group or individually, and report all animal movements to privately or publicly held databases. Large producers will get to ID and report by lot, small producers, hobbyists and homesteader will get to ID and report individual animals and their movements. It's all going to cost, both in money and in time. There will be mistakes made and it isn't going to be the magic bullet in the event that a foreign animal disease (FAD) is found in the USA, especially not if that FAD happens to be something as potentially devestating as foot and mouth disease (FMD), the boogeyman dujour. Now don't get me wrong, FMD is a very, very bad thing, especially if it ever gets back into this country. It hasn't been here since 1929, Harold knew somone, when he was still in California, who lost his whole herd during that outbreak. If FMD ever gets back into this country we're going to have problems like no body's business, especially if animal movements are still allowed during an outbreak. Which brings me to the topic I'd like to discuss today.
Last week the House Ag Committee held a food safety hearing. Their distinguished guests included a representative from the USDA and a zillion reps from factory farms. Nice, huh? The purpose of the hearing was to examine food safety at the USDA only (not the FDA, which is under the jurisdiction of the Energy and Commerce Committee).
This diary covers the testimony from the USDA, who spoke on the first panel. I will post a follow-up diary with summaries of the testimony from the meat industry.
I'm a bit late in reporting on it but Tom Vilsack testified before the House Ag Approps subcommittee on March 31. His testimony was unremarkable if you've been following Vilsack all long. Below, I list highlights from his testimony and then notable excepts from newspaper coverage of the hearing.
For me, the most important take-away from the hearing was about a mandatory national animal ID system (NAIS). Rosa DeLauro is strongly supportive of a mandatory system. Vilsack wishes to meet with opponents of NAIS before pushing ahead.
Today the Senate Ag Committee met to confirm three nominees to the USDA: Kathleen Merrigan (Deputy USDA Secretary), Jim Miller (Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services), and Joe Leonard (Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Civil Rights). All three will be confirmed, there is little doubt about that, but the highlight of the hearing for me was when Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) took Merrigan to task for her love of organic agriculture. Just one more reason we need to toss his ass out of the Senate in 2014.
Today the Senate Ag Committee held a hearing about child nutrition. There were two panels, but I'd like to focus on the second one for now - I'll get to the first one later. The second one involved one health professional and three industry representatives - one for dairy, one for Mars (as in the candy), and one for the American Beverage Association (i.e. soft drinks). Each of the industry reps presented their own special lines of bullshit, and Harkin totally took them to task over it. It was awesome. I wish I had some popcorn to munch while watching!!
UPDATE: If you want to express your thoughts to the Senate Ag committee, the committee # is 202-224-2035.
The Senate Foreign Relations committee held an absolutely heinous hearing on global hunger today. It was very specifically focused on hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Here are the true things they said (most of the rest after this is B.S.):
There are 800mil to 1bil hungry people in the world and 2/3 of them are in Sub-Saharan Africa and S. Asia.
The world's population is growing
Many of the hungry are farmers in Africa, many of whom are women, uneducated, and powerless.
Farmers in Africa lack water for irrigation, petroleum-based fertilizer, GMO or hybrid seeds, pesticides, electricity, and any machinery whatsoever. 70% also live more than 30 minutes walking distance from the nearest road, effectively cutting them off from any markets.
Global hunger is not just a moral issue, it's also a national security risk.
White House leadership will be critical in any effort fighting global hunger.
After that, we started to get into chemical-ag-public-relationsland. More below the flip.
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