Department of Agriculture
-
An Iowa sustainable-ag legend speaks on her experience with the former governor
This is a guest post by long-time Iowa organic farmer and food activist, Denise O’Brien, who narrowly lost a bid for the state’s secretary of agriculture post in 2006. —– The phones, emails, and blogs are abuzz with the Obama appointment of former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack as the new secretary of agriculture. On one […]
-
Vilsack’s appointment is representative of the narrow range of viewpoints in Obama’s Cabinet
Tom Vilsack is going to be secretary of agriculture, hmmm … Let’s see, ethanol proponent, enthusiastic supporter of GMOs and biotechnologies, and political debtor to agribusiness. Yup, it seems clear that Obama really took Michael Pollan’s "Farmer in Chief" piece to heart. Short of actually appointing, say, Monsanto’s chairman, it is hard to imagine a […]
-
Vilsack on organic ag and ethanol
If you’re digging around on Tom Vilsack, Obama’s nominee to head USDA, you might want to check out a couple of interviews, both done during his (brief) presidential campaign this year. The short assessment is: He seems committed on climate change and energy security, and committed on vastly ramping up ethanol, and utterly unaware of […]
-
Obama officially announces Vilsack for USDA and Salazar for Interior
At a press conference Wednesday morning, Barack Obama officially announced that he will nominate former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (D) to be secretary of agriculture and Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar (D) to be secretary of the interior, calling them “as accomplished a pair of public servants as we have in America.” “Together, they will serve […]
-
-
Updates on secretary of agriculture appointment
In the five weeks since the election and almost a month since my first post about the secretary of agriculture, a lot has changed. But one thing has become increasingly clear: The people who voted for Barack Obama expect change at the head of USDA. The next person to head the Department of Agriculture needs […]
-
Pressure rises for a reform-minded USDA pick
The Obama transition team is taking its time mulling candidates to head up USDA. That’s a good thing, considering the generally dismal names that dominate the circulating short-lists. Meanwhile, the temperature is rising around Obama to pick a real reformer, not a business-as-usual politician or outright industry flack. The latest: New York Times op-ed pundit […]
-
Prez-elect urged to name progressive farm-policy chief
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. […]
-
With the food world’s eyes on farm policy, is the real action at Treasury?
Food-politics blogs and listservs are blowing up with speculation about whom Obama will tap as USDA chief. I’ve weighed in myself here and here. (Update: House Ag Committee chair Colin Peterson, tipped as a top contender for the USDA spot, says he’s not interested. Evidently, he calculates that his current post is the more powerful […]