'Sack it to 'em

Brushing aside pressure, Obama taps a big-ag man as USDA chief 16

"Tom Vilsack was one of the first governors to see the promise of biotechnology. He has a very balanced view of agriculture and understands its potential."
—Ted Crosbie, vice president of global plant breeding and director of Monsanto’s Iowa operations

"Governor Vilsack would be an outstanding choice for Secretary of Agriculture. He would bring great leadership and experience to the position. Governor Vilsack understands what it takes to increase agricultural productivity to meet growing global demand for food and feed."
—Paul Schickler, president of Dupont’s Pioneer Hi-Bred, one of Monsanto’s few rivals in the genetically modified seed industry. (Both quoted from a Dec. 16 Des Moines Register piece.)

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In 2007, Thomas Vilsack ended an eight-year stint as Iowa’s governor. Before that, he had served as a state senator. During his time in Iowa politics, he promoted the interests of large agribusiness firms in several ways.

As a state senator, he voted for the infamous House File 519 in 1995, which stripped counties of the right to impose restrictions on CAFOs. In 2005, as governor, he signed into law House File 642, which barred local governments from regulating the planting of genetically modified seed.

In 2001, the Biotechnology Industry Organization named him "governor of the year" for his "support of the industry’s economic growth and agricultural biotechnology research." Vilsack also brisky promoted biofuels as governor; he served as chair of the Governors’ Ethanol Coalition.

After stepping down after his second term in 2007, Vilsack ran for president. When that bid failed, he joined the Minneapolis-based corporate law firm Dorsey & Whitney. The firm’s broad range of corporate clients include food giants Cargill and Conagra. According to Dorsey & Whitney’s website, Vilsack was hired to focus on "strategic counseling and advising clients in the fields of energy conservation, renewable energy, and agribusiness development." He also serves as a distinguished fellow at Iowa State University’s Biosafety Institute for Genetically Modified Agricultural Products, where he sits on the advisory board with representatives of Monsanto, Dupont’s Pioneer Hi-Bred, and the World Bank.

President-elect Obama has reportedly plucked Vilsack from those posts and tapped him to be USDA chief. The decision comes after a wave of hope that Obama might choose a less agribusiness-oriented candidate. I’ll be writing more on this pick in the days to come.

UPDATE: Read more reactions to Vilsack.

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  1. Green Granny's avatar

    Green Granny Posted 7:24 pm
    16 Dec 2008

    BummerIt's time to swamp the change.gov site with comments.  It's time to roll up our sleeves and work that much harder.  Power to the people!

    "We must be the change we wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Ghandi

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  2. randino Posted 9:44 pm
    16 Dec 2008

    Obama in Not Our Sugar DaddyI hope that is not a bolt from the blue for most of us. We did not make our lives easier by getting him into office. We merely traded one set of difficulties for another set of difficulties. It is a set of difficulties I am happy to be burdened by, compared to eating bitterness under Bush. They are difficulties all the same.
    But! On January 21, 2009 we will start it all over again. No vacations. No easy street. Our work will continue.
    Yeah. I know. Life sucks.
    Randy Cunningham

    Cleveland, OH

    Randy Cunningham

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  3. justlou Posted 10:40 pm
    16 Dec 2008

    Expectations

    Bailouts (economic stimulus) to include the corn ethanol industry. (This has been predicted by me and several others in previous postings, long before our current economic crisis.)
    Push to increase the "blend wall" of ethanol/gasoline from 10% to higher levels to maintain progress toward meeting the federal renewable fuels standard.  


    Recently, delegates at the Illinois Farm Bureau state meeting "recommended the State of Illinois set a goal of incorporating a minimum of 20 percent overall ethanol into gasoline used statewide by 2012." FarmWeek, Dec. 15, 2008
    The advocates of this push to increase blend percentages see this as an essential to moving past 15 billion gallons toward the national 36 billion gallon goal.  They want to do this ahead of the actual commercial production of cellulosic ethanol, "facilitating" the environment for "greener" ethanol.    
    I think we are probably safe in characterizing the new Ag department headed by Vilsack as continuing to play the tune of big ag as represented by Monsanto, Dupont, ADM, Conagra, John Deere, etc.
    The technocratic elites are alive and well in the Obama administration.  Any other presidency would have provided the same "choice".      

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  4. archigeek Posted 11:19 pm
    16 Dec 2008

    Adios...So long, it's been good to know ya'...This song goes through my head each and every time I hear about some venal pol getting a slot in the "new" Obama administration. Another nail in the coffin of progressive ideas and solutions, each new blow to the head a signal that it is anything but change which is coming to DC. Might as well prepare for the long slog of national penury and environmental degredation to come as industrial ag destroys our soil for fun and profit. A few thousand wind turbines would do more good for farmer's than Monsanto's flim-flam science. I tells ya', these farmer's are being sold a bill of goods. And now, Obama just sh*t on them.

    The mellotron is your friend.

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  5. justlou Posted 11:35 pm
    16 Dec 2008

    Bill of Goods bought with smiling faces"these farmer's are being sold a bill of goods" archigeek
    From my view here in corn/bean land, most farmers I see are quite willing technician accomplices in making the Big Ag system feasible.  I would say that most of them are quite enthralled with the "progress" of modern agriculture.  They bought it a long time ago.  Just don't ask them if any of it is sustainable.  Theirs is not to question why.  Theirs it to make the machine go. And they are masters at it.  

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  6. texasjenny Posted 12:30 am
    17 Dec 2008

    CrushedThis is heartbreaking news! We definitely need to put pressure on the transition team about this one. And remember - these guys have to get by Congress, so tell your Senators and Representatives that this is unacceptable!

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  7. Steph Larsen Posted 1:23 am
    17 Dec 2008

    While you're at it...While you're on the phone with your legislative delegates about Vilsack, don't forget to weigh in with Change.gov and with your Senators about other positions at USDA! For ideas on what each position does (to help you think of qualified people) see this post.

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  8. karenpj Posted 2:39 am
    17 Dec 2008

    Other positions at USDAI noticed in one of the posts a list of USDA's Food & Nutrition Service positions that are political appointees where some pressure now might be called for.  For the record, the regional administrators are not political appointees.  They are career feds, though as members of the Senior Executive Service, they can be moved around at will.

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  9. tlaskawy Posted 2:50 am
    17 Dec 2008

    We don't know what we don't knowI'm not clear that Vilsack is quite the disaster he is being made out to be in some quarters. I posted on this yesterday as well.  There are some indications, especially in the interview here that Vilsack isn't an enemy of reform.
    I also point out in my post that Vilsack is the product of a pretty treacherous political process.  I offer a possible explanation of his earlier denial that he was under consideration this way: "I would merely speculate that he may have been truthful. There's the distinct possibility that Obama went back to Vilsack more recently based on dissatisfaction over his other choices and/or an inability to get the farm lobby to swallow more reformist picks. Given Obama's amazing needle-threading instincts with his Veterans Affairs pick Shinseki, along with Chu at DOE and Duncan for Education, it's hard to believe he would have abandoned them for Ag. I'm not suggesting that Vilsack is necessarily a closet reformer. I'm just saying the politics of the situation might have led Obama to him in a way that doesn't necessary indicate what Obama's policy priorities really are. I'm hoping we find out more at the press conference today."

    Beyond Green

    http://weaversway.coop/blog/

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  10. Jim Goodman Posted 4:08 am
    17 Dec 2008

    Corporate shillPerhaps Obama could have done worse, but we know he could have done much better. I would place Vilsack in about the same category as Ann Veneman or John Block, not much there for sustainable or organic farmers.
    Seems about all Obama is changing is his mind, and that worries me.

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  11. davedenali Posted 4:18 am
    17 Dec 2008

    vilsackThe Senate is not going to block confirmation of a former Democratic governor from Iowa for Secretary of Agriculture, and Obama is not going to withdraw him.  I understand the disappointment of the sustainable ag community.  The cold fact is that Vilsack was obviously popular in one of the nation's leading farm states.

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  12. Howell Haus's avatar

    Howell Haus Posted 5:06 am
    17 Dec 2008

    Soylent Green is People !My heart bleeds too, but it's apparent with all the populations growth, we're going to need technology and GMO's to feed all the hungry humans, and the grains needed to satisfy protein rich diets.  I lament with others, this is not what I had hoped from the Obama Change Gang.
    Those concerned with quality will grow as much as they can themselves, join a CSA, buy from local, organic sources.  Eat the View is an interesting group trying to sort out the facts.  In essence, there will be a larger division between the clean green and the big machine.  Each of us must be the ones to decide which team we're on, and who we support. What you buy is what you vote.
    As for me and mine, we'll see you from up on our roof garden, or see you out there on our bikes, of course, riding to the Farmer's Market.

    JD & Kelley Howell of

    Eugene, OR. visit us: Cut20.blogspot.com

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  13. mtvyfan's avatar

    mtvyfan Posted 5:21 am
    17 Dec 2008

    Wow, am I disappointed!I can't believe we have another biotech czar in charge of Ag again!!! It could have only been worse if Michael Taylor himself were appointed. I knew working with the Clintons would be a mistake. They were big biotech supporters, too. I guess Monsanto will continue to be laughing at our folly all the way to the bank. Too, bad.

    "For as long as space endures, and for as long as living beings remain, until then may I too abide, to dispel the misery of the world." - Shantideva

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  14. PermieWriter's avatar

    PermieWriter Posted 7:36 am
    17 Dec 2008

    Stop itNo, we don't need GMOs to feed the world. There are no GMO crops that have a greater yield than conventional crops. If you believe otherwise than you've swallowed a load of chemical corporation marketing and I recommend syrup of ipecac and a copy of "Omnivore's Dilemma," stat.
    Vilsack was an unfortunate choice for the future of American agriculture. Let's hope we can alleviate the damage.

    Eat what you grow, grow what you eat

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  15. Pompey Road Posted 9:52 am
    17 Dec 2008

    Dump corn ethanol:The subsidy for corn will never be cut now. Sugar cane or a sourghum hybred is much higher in BTU and the waste can be used as a fuel for ethanol production. Corn as a food stock that has a heavy subsidy to stay afloat needs to go.
    It will never happen now with an ex Iowa governor who is married to corn.

    The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.

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  16. Alexis BadenMayer Posted 4:48 am
    19 Dec 2008

    StopVilsack.orgThe Organic Consumers Association is calling all supporters of organic agriculture to take action to oppose Vilsack's confirmation by signing the petition at StopVilsack.org

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