Rather than name a USDA chief, Obama keeps floating trial balloons.
The names range from the deplorable, like Big Ag lobbyist Charles Stenholm, to the relatively innocuous, like Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. Sebelius is a former chair of the Governors Ethanol Council. Predictable, given that she leads a big farm state; inevitable, almost. But still. However, she gets props for saying no to coal-fired power plants. That has little to do with ag, but does show a willingness to take on powerful interests.
On Thursday, The Washington Post published a short list of USDA candidates that included Stenholm and Sebelius, plus Dennis Wolff, Pennsylvania's Monsanto-friendly ag secretary. Other names being bandied are Colorodo Rep. John Salazar and Georgia Rep. Sanford Bishop -- both conventional ag men through and through.
Meanwhile, a group of sustainable-ag advocates and writers led by David Murphy of Iowa have written a letter [PDF] urging the president-elect to choose from a different short list -- this one made up not of Big Ag shills and friendly politicians but rather real reformers. The letter declares:
From rising childhood and adult obesity to issues of food safety, global warming and air and water pollution, we believe our next Secretary of Agriculture must have a vision that calls for: recreating regional food systems, supporting the growth of humane, natural and organic farms, and protecting the environment, biodiversity and the health of our children while implementing policies that place conservation, soil health, animal welfare and worker's rights as well as sustainable renewable energy near the top of their agenda.
The names floated in the letter are below the fold.
- Gus Schumacher, former Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services and former Massachusetts Commissioner of Agriculture.
- Chuck Hassebrook, executive director, Center for Rural Affairs, Lyons, Neb.
- Sarah Vogel, former Commissioner of Agriculture for North Dakota, lawyer, Bismarck, N.D.
- Fred Kirschenmann, organic farmer, distinguished fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture in Ames, Iowa, and president of the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Pocantico Hills, NY.
- Mark Ritchie, Minnesota Secretary of State, former policy analyst in Minnesota's Department of Agriculture under Governor Rudy Perpich, co-founder of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.
- Neil Hamilton, Dwight D. Opperman Chair of Law and director of the Agricultural Law Center, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa.
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Comments
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Delay And Deny Posted 5:33 am
05 Dec 2008
Ultimately, it's about what we put in our mouths and where it comes from.
Texeme.Construct.Questioner
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mkeating Posted 4:19 am
07 Dec 2008
The new names being circulated by the Washington Post(if in fact there is any substance to the rumors) are also default-style candidates with slighty lower profiles who would conceivably receive less static than Vilsack. This is why it is very important for the sustainable agriculture community to keep the volume up and the tone polite. The longer the decision takes to make, the more we stand to gain. A shotgun wedding is going to get us a Secretary who is more suitable to the powers that be (agribusiness) and the powers that are about to be (Obama). I can't believe that Secretary Wolf has any viability for the USDA job - where is the upside to a guy who is nationally known only for suppressing the public's right to know? For whatever political purposes are in effect, Wolf could slide in as an Undersecretary (he is qualified), but the Vilsack pushback (it definitely was felt inside DC)definitely sinks frontline gmo champions.
The names from the letter are all exceptional - all people who are extremely well versed with production agriculture as well as the nits and bolts of federal ag policy. Realistically, the next Secretary has to have governmental / administrative experience. This is for practical purposes (remember the $100 billion budget) as well as political - the Farm Bureau and agribusiness just aren't going to hand the USDA keys over to somebody who hasn't been part of the system. Remember, the next Secretary is going to have to make friendly with Colin Peterson, House Ag Chairman, who wants to fundamentally overhaul the Department (in his own image). You've got to have a politician to engage with him, for better and for worse.
I still believe that Gus Schumacher makes the best candidate for the sustainable ag community. He has state level executive experience (MA Secretary of Ag) plus Undersecretary experience at USDA - that's one notch below the top. Sarah Vogel is well respected, but somewhat out of the loop (look who's talking) and has no direct DC experience. Schumacher is a regular if not a major player in DC. Mark Ritchie is a fantastic individual and could be extremely effective at an Undersecretary level.
P.S. Major, major kudos to Mark Ritchie for handling the Minnesota Senate election recount (he's in charge of that) in an extremely professional and non-partisan way. Of course the candidates are tearing each other apart, but as for Ritchie's performance, here are two words - Katherine Harris. Richie himself has been no part of the recount story, and that is a reflection of his character and integrity (and the way that Minnesota holds elections).
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Jeremyah Posted 1:50 am
09 Dec 2008
The current USDA is rife with white collar crime, peopled with shills from Monsanto and other ag giants for the Bush administration. This is one of the most eggregious of all the misdeeds done to the population of America.
There is such a large body of credible evidence that we need a new focus in farming practices. From massive doses of petro-chemicals to natural and organic crop ammendments. From giant farms with $100,000+ tractors, to sustainable family farms. From farm profits going to corporate headquarters and Wall Street, to a restoring of rural middle-class America. With the increase and bounty from sustainable farming going to the family farm, to their local communities, to the miller, to the end producer of other foodstuffs - most of all, healthy, affordable food going to our children and grandchildren.
I hold to my belief that Barak Obama's heart is in the right place at the right time for the good of all America's citizens and foreign guests. And that his principled and ethical transition team will assure us of a Secretary of Agriculture that will purge the USDA of all big corporate interest groups who have embedded their loyalists within our USDA to hijack this vital agency for the profit of the few.
I would love to be on a citizen committee to help in developing a new and sustainable agenda for the new USDA, one that will benefit the vast majority of ordinary citizens across this once great nation.
I suppose it took a corrupt and inept administration such as the one that George W. Bush bequeathed to us to point out the immense harm that can be done to a populace in the name of corporate greed.
Jeremiah Cunningham
Coyote Creek Farm
Elgin, Texas
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Jim Goodman Posted 12:24 pm
09 Dec 2008
Neil knows sustainable agriculture, trade issues and works well with farmers. He certainly would not be a pushover for agribusiness.
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jose Posted 5:48 pm
09 Dec 2008
I have confidence that this is one Cabinet post that will show the courage of real change.
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