Since agriculture is a key component of the First's economy, we put together a compendium of Minnesota's ag-related groups' responses to President-elect Obama's selection of Tom Vilsack as USDA head.
Minnesota Farmers Union President Doug Peterson responds to the nomination here. Nuggets:
"As the former Governor of a neighboring state, Mr. Vilsack knows the concerns of Midwest farmers," said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President. "He understands the resources of the Midwest, and the need to bridge our energy policy to the next generation of renewable fuels."
The Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation web site took note of the nomination and promised AFBF president Bob Stallman would issue a statement later in the day. Stallman's statement is posted here. A taste for the tone:
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) press release on the appointment inventories the challenges facing Vilsack and Obama. From the top:
President-elect Barack Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack must quickly shift the agency’s focus toward stabilizing volatile agriculture commodity prices, improving market competition, supporting sustainable farming systems and encouraging the production of healthier food, according to the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).
“As Iowa’s Governor, Vilsack has shown a fairly conventional perspective on agriculture—particularly related to biotechnology and the siting of factory farms—that seems to indicate a status quo approach,” said IATP President Jim Harkness. “But these are unconventional times, and with his charge to implement the national vision for agriculture of President-elect Obama, he has an opportunity to address the concerns of farmers—big and small, organic and conventional—and consumers, as well as environmental challenges facing the country.”
The number one challenge in agriculture is extreme price volatility—the spikes and drops in farm gate and food prices causing enormous problems for farmers, consumers and the environment. Farmers could face a very difficult 2009 with commodity prices dropping, while fertilizer, land and seed costs remain high.
Read the rest at the IATP's site.
The Organic Consumers Assocation, headquartered in Finland, Minnesota, is not pleased. In "OCA: Vilsack Not "Change We Can Believe In," Ronnie Cummins writes:
"Vilsack's nomination sends the message that dangerous, untested, unlabeled genetically engineered crops will be the norm in the Obama Administration," said Ronnie Cummins, Executive Director of Organic Consumers Association. "Our nation's future depends on crafting a forward-thinking strategy to promote organic and sustainable food and farming, and address the related crises of climate change, diminishing energy supplies, deteriorating public health, and economic depression.” . . .
Read the rest at the OCA site. The group intends to mobilize against Vilsack's nomination through an as-yet-to-be-launched web site and online petition.
We have requested copies of statements from the Land Stewardship Project and League of Rural Voters, which we post and link to as they become available, as well those of other Minnesota ag-related groups.
Disclosure: We're a member of the Minnesota Farmers Union.
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