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Ag Sec

PORKER

Well-known member
Obama Given List for Sustainable Secretary of Agriculture Nomination
by Kelly Leahy
Dec 5th 2008 @ 11:47AM

Filed under: Food, News

There is considerable concern amongst those in the food industry over the fact that Obama has yet to name a Secretary of Agriculture. A group of nearly 90 advocates of sustainable agriculture sent a letter to the president-elect with a list of six suggested names to help him with his choice.

The people who sent the letter are heavy hitters when it comes to critiquing and revolutionizing the way that we grow and purchase food including Alice Waters, Judy Wicks, and Michael Pollan. We know that Obama is familiar with Pollan as he mentioned the writer in a recent news.
Not Earl Butz's Types
The six people that made the list for " sustainable choice for the next U.S. Secretary of Agriculture" are:

August Schumacher who served as Massachusetts Commissioner of Food and Agriculture.
Chuck Hassebrook with the Center for Rurual Affairs in Nebraska.
Sarah Vogel, a former Commissioner of Agriculture in North Dakota.
Fred Kirschenmann, a distinguished fellow with the Leopold Center of Sustainable Agriculture in Ames, Iowa.

Mark Ritchie, Minnesota's Secretary of State.

Neil Hamilton, the director of the Agricultural Law Center in Des Moines, Iowa.
We'll have to wait and see if Obama takes their advice.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
reader (the Second) said:
Wow the different media venues sure do have different lists for Ag Sec, which is interesting in itself. Who's on the transition team for Ag?

R-CALF and USCA have made leaps forward as the producers/consumers positions they have fought for, for years, are those that Obama has already came out supporting including full implementation of M-COOL, a Packer Ownership Ban, and more restrictive testing/inspection of food- especially imports.... :D

Washington, D.C. – R-CALF USA was one of about 25 agricultural organizations invited to participate in a meeting here Monday in which the goal was to recommend to the Agriculture Secretary-designee reforms to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) once President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January 2009.



“The Obama-Biden Transition Team is putting together a briefing paper to give to whomever Obama selects to be the next Secretary of Agriculture, and that person will use the briefing paper as a starting point with regard to what needs to be changed within USDA first,” said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard, who represented the group at the meeting. “Besides the necessary changes to USDA, the focus of the meeting also was to discuss what the new Agriculture Secretary will need to do immediately to begin to implement and accomplish what Obama said he would do during his election campaign.”



Bullard pointed out that the recommendations by R-CALF USA would allow the largest segment of U.S. agriculture – the U.S. live cattle industry – to help rebuild rural economies in the U.S. because profitable U.S. cattle operations equate to economic growth and stability for those rural communities.



“R-CALF was the only organization participating at the meeting that exclusively represents the U.S. live cattle industry,” Bullard concluded. “We are pleased that R-CALF is recognized as an agricultural leader in Washington by the new Administration, and we think that’s going to help us considerably in achieving the membership directives of our organization.”



R-CALF USA recommended that the new USDA make the following changes within the four USDA departments that impact the U.S. live cattle industry:



Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)



Immediately rescind APHIS’ over-30-month rule (OTM Rule) that allows the importation of cattle and beef from Canadian cattle that have a higher risk for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). In R-CALF USA et al, vs. USDA, the U.S. District Court ordered USDA to reopen its OTM Rule, and the public comment period for the court-ordered rulemaking closed on Nov. 17, 2008.



Immediately halt APHIS’ efforts to impose a one-size-fits-all National Animal Identification System (NAIS) program on U.S. livestock producers and redirect all funds presently used for this purpose to encourage state animal health officials and Tribes to improve their livestock traceback capabilities by improving existing disease control systems, such as the brucellosis surveillance program.



Promulgate regulations to require APHIS to assist private persons to voluntarily test for diseases such as BSE.



Reaffirm, by regulatory action, APHIS’ congressional mandate to prevent the “introduction” of foreign animal diseases like BSE and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) into the United States. APHIS has defied this mandate in its OTM Rule by establishing a much weaker standard – that of preventing the “establishment” of foreign animal diseases in the United States after they are allowed to be introduced.



Require APHIS to conduct both quantitative and qualitative risk assessments when determining the risk of introducing foreign animal diseases into the United States from foreign countries.



Require countries with ongoing BSE outbreaks to test all animals over 30 months of age as a precondition to allowing trade in cattle and beef.



Reverse APHIS’ relatively recent “regionalization” regulations that would conceivably allow the importation of animals and meat from countries with ongoing disease outbreaks by regionalizing, or carving out, specific areas within the disease-affected country. Regionalization would greatly increase the risk of introducing foreign animal diseases into the United States.



Reaffirm, by regulatory action, the policy that the United States will only import animals and meat products from countries that are free of foreign animal diseases not indigenous to the United States, or that have been effectively controlled or eradicated within the United States.



Immediately rescind APHIS’ policy of requiring mandatory premises registration and NAIS participation for any livestock producer involved in a federal disease program and/or who also ships livestock in interstate commerce.



Rescind APHIS’ recent rule that relaxed the requirement that live animals imported from countries with ongoing disease problems be permanently branded with a brand denoting the animal’s country-of-origin. APHIS has relaxed this requirement and now allows the use of tattoos, which makes it difficult to distinguish cattle imported from countries with ongoing disease problems.



Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS)



Fully restore the regulatory requirement that foreign meatpacking establishments maintain food safety and food safety inspection standards identical to or equal to United States’ standards, thus reversing the relatively recent revision that requires only a standard of equivalency for foreign meatpacking plants.



Fully restore the regulatory requirement that foreign meatpacking establishments receive food safety inspections on a monthly basis, thus reversing the relatively recent revision that requires only periodic inspections of foreign meatpacking plants.



Amend regulations to require traceability of pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7 back to the slaughterhouse where the contaminated meat was fabricated, thus enabling the identification of the source of the contaminant, not just the processing plant that subsequently and unknowingly further distributed the contaminated product.



Amend the HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) regulations to strengthen FSIS’ control, oversight, and enforcement of food safety standards in U.S. slaughtering plants. The self-enforcement policy underpinning the current HACCP program is inadequate to ensure compliance with food safety requirements.



Promulgate rules to implement the 2008 Farm Bill language that allows state-inspected meat plants to engage in interstate commerce. The rules should be written both to facilitate and to simplify access to interstate commerce by state-inspected plants, while ensuring the safety and wholesomeness of meat products produced by such plants.



Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)



Modify the interim final rule for country-of-origin labeling (COOL) to prohibit the use of a mixed-origin label on meat from animals exclusively born, raised, and slaughtered in the United States; amend the definition of processed foods to include cooked products under the labeling requirements; shorten the time period to one week that a country’s name may be included on ground meat labels after the packer or processor ceases sourcing raw product from that country; disallow a mixed-origin sign on meat cases that also contain USA meat; and, disallow the retention of the USA label for products that are exported and then re-imported prior to sale to the final consumer.



Require all imported livestock to bear a permanent mark of origin as a condition of entry into the United States, which can be accomplished by removing livestock from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s so-called “J-list.”



Amend the regulations for mandatory price reporting to achieve greater transparency of livestock market prices as recommended by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).



Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA)



Promulgate rules to define “undue or unreasonable preference or advantage” as required by the 2008 Farm Bill.



Adopt the 2006 recommendations of the USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG) that found GIPSA had not properly enforced the Packers and Stockyards Act for many years.



Promulgate rules, or encourage through statute, a prohibition on packer ownership of livestock more than 14 days prior to slaughter.



Prohibit packers from procuring cattle through formula-type contracts that currently allow meatpackers to procure cattle prior to slaughter without negotiating a fixed base price for cattle.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
MoGal said:
Tom Vilsack Sec. of Ag

I don't know much about the man... I have to wonder if the release of his name had anything to do with the jump in corn prices-- and limit up on most fats and feeder cattle futures that happened today :???:

First elected governor in 1998, Vilsack, 58, carved out a reputation as a political centrist. He balanced Iowa's budget and resisted raising taxes, but he was willing to spend money on such priorities as education and health. He argued that pushing alternative energy sources was key to bolstering rural sections of the nation that are struggling economically and with vanishing populations.
 

PORKER

Well-known member
Six Reasons Why Obama Appointing Monsanto's Buddy, Former Iowa Governor Vilsack, for USDA Head is a Terrible Idea
OCA, November 12, 2008


Nov. 12, 2008

* Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack's support of genetically engineered pharmaceutical crops, especially pharmaceutical corn:
http://www.gene.ch/genet/2002/Oct/msg00057.html
http://www.organicconsumers.org/gefood/drugsincorn102302.cfm

* The biggest biotechnology industry group, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, named Vilsack Governor of the Year. He was also the founder and former chair of the Governor's Biotechnology Partnership.
http://www.bio.org/news/pressreleases/newsitem.asp?id=200...

* When Vilsack created the Iowa Values Fund, his first poster child of economic development potential was Trans Ova and their pursuit of cloning dairy cows.

* Vilsack was the origin of the seed pre-emption bill in 2005, which many people here in Iowa fought because it took away local government's possibility of ever having a regulation on seeds- where GE would be grown, having GE-free buffers, banning pharma corn locally, etc. Representative Sandy Greiner, the Republican sponsor of the bill, bragged on the House Floor that Vilsack put her up to it right after his state of the state address.

* Vilsack has a glowing reputation as being a schill for agribusiness biotech giants like Monsanto. Sustainable ag advocated across the country were spreading the word of Vilsack's history as he was attempting to appeal to voters in his presidential bid. An activist from the west coast even made this youtube animation about Vilsack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmoc4Qgcm4s
The airplane in this animation is a referral to the controversy that Vilsack often traveled in Monsanto's jet.
 

PORKER

Well-known member
He is a washed up attorney from the middle of Des Moines that doesn't know the big picture of agriculture he will be a actor directed by PETA, EPA ,Sierra Club and the east -west coast senators! Farmers brace yourself for $30-175 @ animal per year tax . Also 10-20$ per acre dust and runoff tax! America you wanted change you got it !! I read this comment,


Probable be a 2002 COOL Lawman. Not sure where he stands on RFID animals or National ID or NAIS

Vilsack's) background gives him the necessary experience to understand important issues, like mandatory country-of-origin labeling enforcement.
 

PORKER

Well-known member
How the changing political landscape in Washington affects the food world in 2009.
With the change of power in the nation's capital, with Vilsack, there will be a shift in the food world, including a new emphasis on small farms, new food safety regulations and country-of-origin labeling.

Shining a bright light on farmers, president-elect Obama plans to provide incentives for existing farmers and a call to action to promote the next generation of farmers and ranchers to help develop their skills and offer a tax incentive to bring about new farmers. Both Barack Obama and Joe Biden have pledged to support family farmers and their right to fair access to markets.
Vilsack as the new AG SEC. will bring about food safety regulations and country-of-origin labeling, the new administration also plans to monitor closely processes at factory farms with new food safety regulations, especially regarding meat products. Along with this, there also looks to be a renewed effort to better the USDA and FDA.

President-elect Obama has always been a supporter of country-of-origin labeling, making more foods traceable to their origin and helping to showcase to consumers exactly where their food is coming from.
 

PORKER

Well-known member
Vilsack confirmation hearing set for Jan. 14

(MEATPOULTRY.com, January 07, 2009)
by MEAT&POULTRY Staff

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Related stories
Industry reacts to Vilsack nomination
(MEATPOULTRY.com, December 18, 2008)

Vilsack named to lead U.S.D.A.



WASHINGTON — A confirmation hearing for former Gov. Tom Vilsack has been set by the Senate Agriculture Committee for Jan. 14, according to the American Meat Institute. Mr. Vilsack was announced as President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to fill the post of Secretary of Agriculture in December.

Mr. Vilsack is expected to face a variety of questions about his opinions regarding biofuels, farm programs, subsidy eligibility rules, conservation and nutrition, the A.M.I. said.
 
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