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.

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)

What a month! It has been almost two weeks since the American people voted in a new president elect, Barack Obama. I am thrilled, to say the least. It is an exciting coincidence that I moved to Chicago, specifically to Hyde Park, just two months before the community’s most prominent resident was voted into the white house. When McCain made his concession speech, my friends called me and we rushed into the streets and (two blocks from my house) to Obama’s street, where at least 50 other Hyde Parkers had gathered to celebrate. One man had brought a big boom box, and we all danced and laughed and…I can’t describe the positive vibe on that block that night. It was infectious. The rest of the week, people walked around as if on clouds, smiling at strangers and not even frowning on the rainy winter days. But this blog is about food and agriculture, so let me share a bit of what I’ve learned about Obama’s stance on these issues.

On Ethicurean, a great foodie website (they define the word as “Someone who seeks out tasty things that are also sustainable, organic, local, and/or ethical - SOLE food, for short”), I read an article a few months ago pointing me to an interview with Barack Obama from the Missoula Independent. I’d highly recommend reading the full interview, which includes Obama’s famous chili recipe, which supposedly is one of the only dishes he can cook!

I was particularly happy to read mention of a great documentary, The Real Dirt on Farmer John, which is all about one of the Illinois farms serving urban farmers markets in Chicago, Angelic Organics. Here are some of the most provocative bites Obama gives on his food and agriculture policies:

Given the busy lives that working parents lead, I know it’s easier to take your children to a fast food restaurant than it is to cook a balanced meal at home using fresh fruits and vegetables. But the eating habits that children develop when they are young will last them for their entire lives. As president, I would use the bully pulpit of the office to encourage parents to devote more time to ensuring that their children are eating healthy meals

On Angelic Organics:

These types of farms can provide an important source of fresh fruits and vegetables to inner city communities that do not have easy access to grocery stores that sell organic foods. Moreover, farms like Angelic Organics that sell directly to consumers cut out all of the middlemen and get full retail price for their food, which increases the financial viability of small family farms. As president, I would implement USDA policies that promote local and regional food systems, including assisting states to develop programs aimed at community-supported farms. I also support a national farm-to-school program and am pleased that the Farm Bill provides more than $1 billion to expand healthy snacks in our schools.

On ethanol production:

I have been a long-time supporter of home-grown biofuels, but I believe that corn ethanol should be a transitional fuel source as we move towards more advanced cellulosic ethanol, which can be made from agricultural waste products, switchgrass, sustainably harvested forest biomass and other renewable feedstock.

On his future choice for Secretary of Agriculture:

I would select a Secretary of Agriculture who shares my commitment to America’s farmers and ranchers, and to developing the rural economy, yet who is not afraid to challenge entrenched special interests in Washington.

My favorite quote from the Missoula Independent interview:

I believe that consumers have a right to know where their food comes from. For that reason, I support the immediate implementation of the Country of Origin labeling law, which will require meat products to indicate their country of origin.

More recently, Time’s Swampland interviewed Obama just a few weeks before his campaign ended. The full transcript is very interesting, especially when Obama mentions the Michael Pollan article I wrote about a few weeks ago. Here is an interesting quote about the economic crisis and how it relates to energy, and in turn, to food:

Whatever else we think is going to happen over the next certainly 5 years, one thing we know, the days of easy credit are going to be over because there is just too much de-leveraging taking place, too much debt both at the government level, corporate level and consumer level. And what that means is that just from a purely economic perspective, finding the new driver of our economy is going to be critical. There is no better potential driver that pervades all aspects of our economy than a new energy economy.
I was just reading an article in the New York Times by Michael Pollen about food and the fact that our entire agricultural system is built on cheap oil. As a consequence, our agriculture sector actually is contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector. And in the mean time, it’s creating monocultures that are vulnerable to national security threats, are now vulnerable to sky-high food prices or crashes in food prices, huge swings in commodity prices, and are partly responsible for the explosion in our healthcare costs because they’re contributing to type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease, obesity, all the things that are driving our huge explosion in healthcare costs. That’s just one sector of the economy. You think about the same thing is true on transportation. The same thing is true on how we construct our buildings. The same is true across the board.

According to an article from ScrippsNews, Obama’s capaign website said that he wants to promote regional, local, and organic food systems “by helping organic farmers afford to certify crops, as well as change crop insurance so they’re not penalized.” While I couldn’t find the specific part of the website they referred to (it has probably changed since then), he did say some of those things in the above quotes as well. The article also contrasts Obama’s stance on agriculture with that of Mccain, whose campaign website said he wanted “to foster a “21st Century green revolution,” his campaign Web site said. That calls for research to develop higher yields and more production per acre.” Of course, this would also mean promoting pesticide and herbicide and fertilizer use, and all the other nasty parts of Green Revolution agriculture. Good thing he didn’t win!

Another great site, Family Farmed, as a great PDF factsheet on Obama’s support of local, family farms. I didn’t know he spoke at one of the Farm Aid concerts! He just keeps getting cooler, right?

On Obama’s website, there was a great page that featured a quote about the challenges facing downstate Illinois, as many other places:

I’ve fought these battles for rural Americans - and for ethics reform in our government - in Springfield and in Washington. And I know that what we’re talking about here is not just one policy - it’s about the future for these kids who are going to graduate from Tama High. It’s about whether they can find opportunity here at home. It’s about whether they’ll have a government that fights for them, so they can dream without limit.

In an article from OpEdNews, the author Jim Goodman argues that “Globalization, industrial farming and high tech agriculture have not brought us into a golden age of agriculture, they have given us a food crisis. While Obama has fundamental flaws in his farm policy, he has at least, tried to move beyond the failed policies of Reagan, Clinton and Bush.” At least Obama has food and agriculture on his radar screen, and he is pushing for more sustainable and regional systems of agriculture. He prompts the reader to participate in the public discussion on food policies, and that we must push for change.

A fabulous (as usual) Grist article last month looked at Obama and McCain’s takes on food and agriculture policy. The section on Obama first praises his plan to challenge big agribusiness and the meat industry, and his promise to promote local, organic food. But then the article bashes Obama’s ethanol subsidy plans, and his less-than-novel plan for a $250,000 cap on farmer payments. The article also talks about the Pollan article, and how our next president will be forced “to deal with food issues in ways that break radically with past policies”.

I think our country is moving in the right direction. I’m less apt to move to another country in the coming years. Things are changing, and I have a renewed faith that the future of food and farming is looking brighter every day.