Wow, I have fallen off the blogosphere! It has been over two months, but I realize that the more I write the more I will keep up with the news and articulating my takes on various agrissues. So I’m going to make an effort to at least write once a week, and also continue working on film projects and posting them soon. So much has changed in the USA over the last months (–I know, I haven’t written since November–), but here are the most relevant pieces of news that have struck me:

We have a new president!! Now I don’t want to sound cheesy, but I am absolutely giddy with pride and hope for the future. For many years, I watched US domestic and foreign policy spiral away from where I feel we should stand. In particular, I was increasingly disgusted with our international policies on energy and trade, and our domestic policy on environmental issues and agriculture (of course). For my entire voting life, I have had a president whose principles were far from mine, who embarrassed me when I traveled abroad, and whose country I saw on a dangerously downward trend. I wanted to move out of the United States, away from my home and my family and my friends, and to a state whose government more closely matched my values. But now, with Obama in the White House, I can say that (gulp) I would be thrilled and honored to work for the government! It is going to be less of an uphill battle for people working in “green collar” jobs, and I am so proud to be an American for the first time in a long time. Sure I’m worried about the economy, but on the upside, desperate times are a great incubator for innovation. Hooray for a new chapter in American history!

Obama at an Iowa farm in July 2007

With the new president, a new Secretary of Agriculture has been appointed. On December 17, 2008, President (then President Elect) Obama named Tom Vilsack the next Secretary of Agriculture. On January 20, 2009, the Senate unanimously confirmed this appointment. Looks like my prediction in a post last year that Obama would shy away from Vilsack as his main agrisqueeze wasn’t too accurate!

In a Gristy look at the Vilsack appointment, David Murphy references Lincoln’s act of creating the Department of Agriculture. In Lincoln’s day, this was called “the people’s department.” He reviews the current state of big agribusiness and agripolitics, closing with the interesting reflection that

During Lincoln’s day nearly 58 percent of Americans were farmers. Today that number has dropped to less than 1 percent. If Obama/Vilsack want to stem to blood loss in rural America they’re going to have to appoint some serious agents of change.

Wikipedia tells me that (surprise surprise) Vilsack is supported by the Corn Refiners Association, the National Grain and Feed Association, the National Farmers Union, and the American Farm Bureau Federation. The Organic Consumers Association, on the other hand, vehemently opposed Vilsack’s appointment, and in November 2008 they released a report citing reasons Obama should not appoint him (this is also from the wiki page):

• Vilsack has repeatedly demonstrated a preference for large industrial farms and genetically modified crops; as Iowa state governor
• He originated the seed pre-emption bill in 2005, effectively blocking local communities from regulating where genetically engineered crops would be grown
• Vilsack was the founder and former chair of the Governor’s Biotechnology Partnership, and was named Governor of the Year by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, an industry lobbying group.

Yeah, so Vilsack is really into corn. Take the bad with the good...

Vilsack has been the governor of Iowa since the late 1990s, and as such has plenty of support for big agrindustry, particularly in the corn arena. On the upside, he is a democrat who is committed to renewable energy (even though he mostly supports corn-based ethanol), understanding the human side of climate change (from FarmWeek: “I want this department to be a national leader in climate change mitigation/adaptation efforts…This will involve conservation, greater efficiency with the energy we have, and new technologies and expanded opportunities in biofuels and renewable energy”), and he also is very familiar with sustainable agriculture research. Iowa, though deep in the corn belt, is also a big player in the organic farming movement (check out the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University).

Frederick Kirschenmann, a distinguished fellow at the Leopold Center, stressed that Vilsack focus on the issues of nutrition, energy and freshwater in an Ames Progressive article. Kirschenmann recommends a systems approach to solving the myriads of problems facing the Department of Agriculture: “since systems are complex and multi-faceted, I would urge Secretary Vilsack to insist on full life cycle analysis in assessing whether any innovation actually produces the economic, environmental or social benefits it purports to provide.”

In January on a US Food Policy blog, I read that Vilsack promises to promote local food systems and thinks fruits and vegetables shouldn’t just be grown in rural areas, but everywhere. Vilsack met with Health and Human Services nominee Tom Daschle and is quoted as saying, “It’s going to be important for us to promote fresh fruits and vegetables as part of our children’s diets. . .that means supporting those who supply those products” and making it easier for consumers to buy locally grown products.

In his first weeks as Secretary, Vilsack is already making big changes. Vilsack has recently appointed 48 key USDA posts, which you can read about in this AgriPulse file. He also reversed two nasty policies from the Bush administration, as described in a recent Gazette article. In one, Vilsack restored funding for a healthy food program, and in the other he extend the comment period on contentious rules limiting crop subsidy payments. Way to go, Tom!

The Washinton Post nodded towards foodies’ raised eyebrows about the Vilsack appointment, but went on to commend his commitment to farmers and even more to child nutrition programs.

He added that educating school administrators, parents and children is essential in effecting change. To that end, he said, he supports establishing school and urban community gardens, long at the top of the wish list for activists.

“We want to make a better connection between what kids eat and knowing where it comes from,” he said. “I’ve seen it in my own family. If you educate kids at an early age, you can have a tremendous impact.”

It is certainly a step in the right direction. OK, we didn’t get what the NYT’s Nicholas Kristof called a Secretary of Food. Alright, we don’t have a Farmer in Chief (yet). And sure, it’s not a flying leap like us sustainable food advocates would have hoped. But it’s much better than what we’ve had in this last decade! In a NYT article, Vilsack is quoted as writing:

Let us build a 21st-century rural economy of cutting-edge companies and technologies that lead us to energy and food security…Such an investment will revitalize rural America, re-establish our moral leadership on climate security and eliminate our addiction to foreign oil.

And another great bite from the Washington Post, from VIlsack on the Department of Agriculture:

This is a department that intersects the lives of Americans two to three times a day. Every single American…So I absolutely see the constituency of this department as broader than those who produce our food — it extends to those who consume it.

Only time will show how much Vilsack will follow through on these commitments, but I am hopeful that things will be moving in the right direction. Or rather, towards the left.

I just received an interesting email from the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at MSU. It is about a petition to the President Elect Barack Obama, suggesting that the next Secretary of Agriculture should be - you guessed it - Michael Pollan. There is even a facebook group devoted to this cause. While I added myself to the group (only so I could post a comment), I’m not convinced this is a good idea. It’s unsound namely because Pollan is a journalist and not an agriculturalist or agronomist. He has not worked for the government or in public policy before. He is good at researching agricultural issues, and presenting them in an easily-digestible way to the American people. But is he really fit to be the Ag Secretary? I don’t think so. And I don’t think the next president will entertain this idea either.

Here are some more likely candidates, as listed by Plenty Magazine:

–John Ikerd
Raised on a dairy farm in Missouri. Spent his career as an agricultural economist at various top universities. Although his roots are quite mainstream, his philosophies have evolved and he’s written extensively on sustainability. His vision is based on a “common sense” that compels us to care for others and about nature.

–Mark Ritchie
Definitely one of the crunchier candidates — which I consider a positive, though it may harm him politically. Ritchie lived in the Bay Area during the ’70s, later founding a fair trade coffee company as well as the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, which works to support the family farm. He also did some time as an academic at the University of Vermont’s Center for Rural Studies. Ritchie has government experience as Minnesota’s Secretary of State, which could help.

–Fred Kirschenmann
A South Dakotan and organic farmer who’s been Director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture — a top nexus for ideas and research on sustainable ag — since 2000. He’s a farmer first and an intellectual second — and he’s very clear about that —though he’s written articulately on sustainable farming. Probably still too left-of-center to have a real shot, but if he got the position he would really push for change.

–Tom Buis
President of the National Farmer’s Union and an Indiana farmer himself. The NFU may be slightly more progressive than the Farm Bureau, but as far as I’m concerned, Buis as ag secretary would pretty much mean a continuation of the status quo. But he has the right friends — Buis served as senior agricultural policy advisor to former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who’s got Obama’s ear – and that may help more than a willingness to bring change to ag policy.

–Gus Schumacher
Raised on a farm in Massachusetts; studied agribusiness at Harvard; and worked for a long time at the USDA, in charge of international trade and development programs as well as domestic commodities, insurance, and farm credit operations. He’s served as USDA Under-Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, Massachusetts Commissioner of Food And Agriculture, and worked at the World Bank. Personally, he’s my favorite candidate because he knows how politics work but has his heart in the right place (see his piece on the Farm Bill here).

–Tom Vilsack
Governor of Iowa, a former lawyer who had the briefest of Democrats’ runs for the presidential nomination. As any Iowa guv must, he has strong ties to Big Ag and vehemently supports ethanol. According to the Guardian, Vilsack “understands that sustainable rural development means more than just commodity farming.” I’m not so sure. Unfortunately, his is the name that’s gotten the most airtime.

I’m leaning away from Vilsack, and I have a feeling Obama will lean away from him as well. We’ll see…

OK. So things have been going well, right? Obama is generally pretty awesome. But get this. Brace yourselves. He apparently (gulp) doesn’t like beets. Blasphemy, right? I mean, he is supposedly such a food-lover and loves eating all sorts of daring and delicious cuisine…but according to the Seattle Times, our next president loves a spicy chili anyday but has always hated beets. This is so sad, as beets are probably one of my favorite ground provisions (root crops). They are great just boiled, diced and thrown into a salad with all the regular fixins, or grated and made into any variety of baked beet creations (think BEETZA with a beet crust, or a beet sauce, or a beet topping? take your pick!) … so in closing, here are some photos of beets to make you drool. Unless you’re the next president, that is.

(all photos from Johnny’s Seed Catalog)

Wow, Sunday already, what a week. Only my second week of school, I can already feel my momentum growing and with it my enthusiasm. At first, I must admit I was very apprehensive about going back to school, getting back into that academic machine. But my classes have engaging discussions, thought-provoking readings, and many intriguing students to boot. Enough on school though, my most interesting revelations this week have been in the farmers markets!

Apples, anyone?

Each week since I arrived in Hyde Park, I’ve been shopping at the Harpers Court farmers market, getting all my beets, chard, lettuce, squash, onions, garlic, apples, pears, turnips, cukes, tomatoes, oh man the list goes on. This market, I learned, is owned through the City of Chicago and will continue until the end of October. Although this market has been here for years, I have heard rumors that it will not be there next year, when the University of Chicago is planning to build more high rises. I wonder if it will be moving, or if it will just disappear?

My friend Serena picking up some goodies. Check out the herbs and jade next to her!

I met up with my friends Serena and Pete at the market this past week. We browsed around, chatted with shoppers and vendors, and bought our fruit and veg in the late morning. It’s surprising how the market feels in the early morning (when it’s busiest) and how much that vibe changes throughout the day. One week I arrived at 1pm and there were only three vendors left, even though the market *officially* closes at two. Serena and I came back to my house, as we do most Thursdays, to make a big market salad with lettuce, cukes, tomatoes, and almond-stuffed olives (ok it’s not all from this market heheh). On the side we had some cold beet/collard greens/sweet potato salad with a mild garlic vinaigrette dressing. I used to take plenty of pictures, and I’m trying to get back into that habit.

Market salad

Yesterday I also went to the 61st Street farmers market, which is run through the Experimental Station. This is the first year for the market, and unlike the other Hyde Park market above, this one is independently owned and managed. There is also a greater focus on locally produced items, or items whose origins are significant to the product, and are apparent to the consumer.

This market had a very different feel, which was clear to me while still a block away from the market. As I walked to 61st Street, I could hear drumming in the distance, and upon arrival I saw a circle of adults and children playing drums. Of about eleven vendors, most of them were based in the Chicagoland area. Here are a few that I found very intriguing:

• Growing Power – They have been getting plenty of press lately because one of the founders recently received a genius grant. This is high on my list of places to visit and blog on!
• God’s Gang - Another city farm focused on training and education, with many projects you can check out on their website
• Windy City Harvest - This farm operates through the Botanical Garden, and is a relatively new project. Last year they started with training 16 people, some of whom stayed on for this year, and this year they have a class of 15.

My friend Courtney from the Backstory Cafe was at the market too, helping a group of kids sell caramel apples as a fundraiser. She told me that the nearby school gave each student three $1 “market money” dollars, which they could spend at the Saturday farmers market. What a cool idea! Courtney and I have been working with a group for the documentary I mentioned before. More on this later, but she introduced me to Kelly from Windy City Harvest, who might be the main character in our documentary. Kelly will call me back on Tuesday, and filming will start next week if all goes well.

Another beautiful day is beginning, and I’m going to live up the warm (in the high 70s!) weather while it lasts. My life in Hyde Park is clicking into place, I am finding my niche, and starting to feel pretty darn good.