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Although perhaps a certain segment of the population believes he should be throwing red paint on fur-coated old ladies and boycotting West Hollywood restaurants that serve foie gras, President Obama has actually been doing a pretty good job heeding Michael Pollan's call to real action within the American food industry.
It's no secret things are all fouled up: widespread salmonella breakouts, an obesity epidemic, outrageous health care costs, and terrible conditions for industrial farm-bred livestock. We already know why our food system sucks, but what's a President supposed to do about it? Well, despite the crushing economic and political weights already placed on his shoulders, there's been major efforts from the Obama administration to address our food woes.
Tom Vilsack: He's the new Agriculture Secretary. Basically, he's the dude in charge of this whole shebang. So what's on his list of Stuff To Get Done? Well, first, more transparency in food and agriculture policy (in keeping with a general Obama Administration objective). Then, possible payment limits on agricultural subsidies (a major tax-suck and also the reason why the Corn Industry is King in America -- they have the most lobbyists!). Health and nutrition are also top his list, particularly child obesity, as well as environmental initiatives. (Read more at the USDA website.) He also wants to budget more for wildfire prevention -- a policy that would hopefully have a positive impact on California's agricultural productivity.
Vilsack's actions are crucial to the next four years of food policy, and his interpretation of the Farm Bill could have major results. California is a major and a diverse supplier of America's Foodbasket, and we will be immediately impacted by any national activity in the agricultural and energy sectors. We are also a leader for the organic and local food movement -- yes, even though we're kind of cheating, since we can grow amazing produce all year long (HA!).
Michelle Obama: While Pollanites waited anxiously for the President to start taking an active role in promoting health and food, turns out another powerful force in the White House was shouldering that responsibility. First Lady Obama has seemed to put these topics at the top of her agenda. She has extolled the virtues of responsible cooking and eating on several public platforms, including this article in the New York Times: and if the health and good looks of her own family are any proof, I think I'll take the lady's advice: she is a '“a big believer” in community gardens that provide “fresh fruits and vegetables for so many communities across this nation and world.”'
Mrs. Obama is a natural choice to spearhead the burgeoning "Real Food" movement in America. She is already proving herself to be an important advocate and spokeswoman for the Obama Administration, and as the captain of her household, she can demonstrate for real Americans what it means to raise healthy children and to sponsor fresh, local foods. She's opened the White House kitchen to reporters already -- one can only hope for an advisory board position for Pollan sometime soon.
Obama's Green Policies: So what else is the President doing to achieve foodie-friendly policies in this shivering new economy? We all know by now that Obama wants to spend more money on green industry. He has been speaking out against unnecessary corn industry subsidies -- and oil mongers have also been feeling the burn. From Business Week:
Agribusiness interests, startled by Obama's planned subsidy purge—the President voted for the farm bill last year—are already mobilizing for a march on Washington. Lobbyists for the American Farm Bureau Federation are targeting freshman Democrats who make up some 30% of the House Agriculture Committee. Many come from rural areas and depend on support from farmers. Key among the freshmen to persuade: Travis Childers of Mississippi, Bobby Bright of Alabama, and Debbie Halvorson of Illinois.The American Petroleum Institute plans to battle Obama's proposals to reduce the industry's tax breaks through presentations to newspaper editorial boards and visits to Washington by top oil company executives and employees, plus drop-ins by ordinary shareholders. The messages: Obama will increase U.S. reliance on foreign oil by eliminating the deduction for drilling in the U.S. and put at risk up to 6 million jobs directly and indirectly reliant on the industry. "They are going to push more of the investment offshore," said Mark Kibbe, the institute's chief lobbyist.
And if you're wondering, yes, policies concerning energy and conservation also obviously impact the food industry. Shall farms continue to use fossil fuels to power their output? Will corn-based ethanol (a morally fraught energy source, to be sure) be encouraged as a way to get rid of ever-fattening corn reserves? How can boosts in green spending positively affect the food industry and the economy? Can tax breaks on oil companies really work?
We're only two and a half months into the new Presidency, and it's going to take many, many years to fix our broken food supply. But action is happening, and hopefully these first tiny steps will lead to huge leaps for our economy, our health, and our good eats.
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how about "what's the food industry doing for itself"?
what is with the entire country relying on one person?
can no one do something for themselves, without government assistance?
The food industry is doing for itself:
1)skimping on safety to make another $0.10
2)placing downer cattle into our food supply (Hallmark Packing Chino, CA)
3)re-shipping previously rejected product for consumer use (Peanut Corp of America Bumfuck Egypt, GA)
4)exploiting immigrants in the packing houses (Tyson Foods, AR and GA)
5)trying as hard as they can to get GMO foods into our systems so that we grow antlers in 3 generations.
we are relying on 1 person to lead us out of the pit we have dug.
Bernard Madoff, Ken Lay, and Bernard Ebbers did plenty for themselves without government assistance.
Wall street did plenty for themselves without government assistance.
It is high time for some government assistance.
Hold the horses Nellie - 'cause this data is about as wild as the West 150 years ago!
If, and I use this term very sceptically, President and Mrs. Obama think "local food", gardening, and the food "industry" are so durn important - Why are they (okay I will give Mrs. Obama a break) - The President continuing the horrible and onerous program being forced on small farmers called the National Animal Identification System (cute little NAIS tag will be used instead).
Oh no you say? HR 1105 mandates - and read - mandates the following deadline for "tracability" of the homegrown critters (nice Nubians by the way) that threaten the entire US Agricultural economy!
Deadlines mandated in HR1105, yes the Omnibus Bill 2009, state:
“APHIS is expected to make demonstrable progress with effectively implementing the animal identification system. Accordingly, APHIS is directed to meet the following species traceability objectives that are derived from the agency's final 2008 animal disease traceability business plan:
- Cattle: By March 1,2009, identify 30 percent of the nation's cattle population to premises of origin within 48 hours of a disease event.
-- Goats: By October 1,2009, identify 90 percent of goat breeding
herds to their birth premises within 48 hours of a disease event.
-- Poultry: By July 1,2009, achieve 98 percent traceability in the
commercial poultry industry through the identification of commercial production units in the required radius within 48 hours of a disease event.
-- Sheep: By October 1, 2009, identify 90 percent of sheep breeding flock to their birth premises within 48 hours of a disease event.
-- Swine: By February 1, 2009, achieve 80 percent traceability in the commercial swine industries through the identification of commercial production units in the required radius within 48 hours of a disease event.”
http://www.rules.house.gov/111/LegText/omni/jes/divajes_111_hromni2009_jes.pdf
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Gee - nice of the current administration to just sign that puppy without considering that once you remove individuals rights to raise their own food without paying for the "Agri-Industries" new and improved programs via Government intervention - we have to depend on our own gardens to supplant -
Well hold on again folks - what's this HR 875? Regulate food estabilishments? Nice idea - until you read through the bill and understand that Home Gardens are not specifically excluded.
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So let me get this straight:
Vilisak approves a new "E. coli vaccine" to prevent big industry cattle from developing E. coli through poor feeding practices. Then touts this as a "new era".
President Obama signs a bill including funding that mandates a program to support big Ag and drive out the small livestock owner.
And then is helping "food safety"
And Mrs. Obama wants to support Local Food that may not exist in a few years due to Governmental Regulations.
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Hm. Sounds like "robber baron" mentality to me.
Saddle up folks - the only "Change" I see here is the mount. Donkey vs Elephant.
Before anybody goes thinking something great is finally happening, they'd better grab their pens and their phones... 5 bills in Congress would put a regulatory stamp on those home gardens, local farms, organic producers and backyard livestock raisers....
If Mrs. Obama wants real food in this country she'd better grab her husband by the shirt collar and make him understand what real food really is...
HR 875 creates the new Food Safety Administration, with the power to set minimum standards for everything from feed to fertilizer. It does NOT exempt home gardens or backyard chickens.
HR 814 and S 425 mandate tracking of any food or food ingredient which leaves the farm. One is specific to livestock, the other covers all food and food ingredients,
HR 759 and S 510 I have not looked at yet, but if the organic and "raw milk" orgs are warning about them, they will affect us, too.
Go back to the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, and the testimony offered by the FDA at the hearing stated that while home gardens and home food producers were not necessarily covered, they would NOT close the door on future regulation. Email me at suediederich@comcast.net for a copy of that part of the testimony.
Further, if you go to the FDA site where "food production facilities" must register, you will find that if you give away so much as a tomato or an egg, you, too, must register with the FDA:
http://www.directfarmbusiness.org/fda-registration/
be sure to scroll down to the bottom and answer the questions at the link to "Does your farm qualify for an exemption"
If we don't get these bills stopped, and stopped now, the only ones we will be crying to afterward are ourselves.
Not one addresses the safety of our food, though they all claim to, and may even look like it on the surface. Not one addresses animal health, or even animal disease. Not one would have prevented the peanut debacle, the 43 MILLION pounds of ground beef recall, the spinach or the lettuce issue.
Each will affect every single consumer in the country in a very negative way, and each has the power to drive small producers, who've rarely if EVER had recall or disease issues. Each also rewards industrial scale farms - where the problem truly lies.
So much for change. The current administration listens to the USDA, and the USDA is no more concerned about food safety than we apparently are about the fact that Vilsack's policies as IA governor drove hundreds of farmers out of business in his state...
So much for local food, real food, wholesome food, or any safe food at all.