tagged w/ Tom Vilsack
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If the main goal of the emergency organic dairy rally that was held yesterday in West Salem, Wisconsin was to catch the ear of USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, it was a success. Secretary Vilsack came to the La Crosse Interstate Fairgrounds with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to host a town hall meeting about new Obama administration programs that will affect rural communities, but before the town hall forum began, Vilsack made a surprise appearance at the organic dairy rally to assure farmers that he feels their pain.
Vilsack stood on the sidelines for a few minutes, listening to a couple of farmers describing their struggles, before climbing up to the podium, which had non-perishable food for struggling farmers stacked in front of it. "I would never ever suggest to you that I completely understand the stresses and strains you all are under," Vilsack told the farmers, "but I do have some sense of it."
"We are focusing on rules that will level the playing field so that small- and medium-size producers have a fair shot. We are, as you are, asking questions about how producers can make so little, and how others...can make so much. And we are attempting to take steps to provide assistance to dairy producers across the country."
Secretary Vilsack said that USDA is looking into measures to stabilize prices, and he suggested that USDA would work with bankers to adjust existing dairy farmer loans so that they can keep their farms. He didn't address the question of enforcement until a farmer from the crowd demanded to know if the violators of organic standards would be prosecuted. "I commit to you that we will indeed enforce the rules," Vilsack responded, and was met with applause.
The crowd thinned after Vilsack left, but the farmers that stayed took turns telling their own stories. The press releases promised a "symbolic" milk dump, to illustrate that "the value of their milk has deteriorated along with the value of their farms," but there was no photo op, and I was told that the milk would later be sprayed on a field as fertilizer.
-Mark Andrew Boyer
For more videos and news visit: http://www.OrganicNation.tvIf the main goal of the emergency organic dairy rally that was held yesterday in West... more
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Pushing to fill his Cabinet, President-elect Barack Obama announced Wednesday his choices of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack to be agriculture secretary and Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar to lead the Interior Department.Pushing to fill his Cabinet, President-elect Barack Obama announced Wednesday his... more
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We need a USDA head who will move us in a more sustainable direction, not in the direction we are going in now. You can sign a petition to Obama at the link here to voice your opposition to Tom Vilsack being appointed USDA head. Monsanto has had a hold on the food industry for far too long, and agribusiness companies on the whole have had a chokehold on farmers that has seen a decline in food quality and an increase in pollution, poverty, famine, and climate change worldwide with only an increase in their own profits. It is time for a real change. We can bring that change if we take action now.
From the link:
It has been widely reported that former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack is being considered for the Secretary of Agriculture position in the Obama Administration. Vilsack is no friend of organic food and farming and his appointment would represent a major disappointment for the Organic Consumers Association and its members. But there is still time to make your voice heard.
1) Contact the office of the President-Elect and urge him to appoint a Secretary of Agriculture that reflects your organic values.
2) Call the office of President-Elect Obama at 202-540-3000 and make sure your concerns about Vilsack are heard.
3) Sign the OCA's petition below to the President-Elect and urge him to appoint a Secretary of Agriculture that is supportive of organic food and farming.We need a USDA head who will move us in a more sustainable direction, not in the... more
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* 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.
*Vilsack is an ardent support of corn and soy based biofuels, which use as much or more fossil energy to produce them as they generate, while driving up world food prices and literally starving the poor.
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Another administration of cronies? Is this what we will get as change? I sure hope this is not true.* Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack;s support of genetically engineered pharmaceutical... more
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The end of the primaries, the continuation of foreign policy fights, and the best new political word since "Borked!"The end of the primaries, the continuation of foreign policy fights, and the best new... more
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