EPA to Visit a Farm

Family Farm Visit for EPA Officials
Grassley's invitation to see a working farm accepted.
(6/24/2009)
Farm Futures Staff

Upon learning the person leading the division writing indirect land use guidelines had never set foot on a farm Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, invited Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, the Office of Air and Radiation Assistant Administrator Regina McCarthy and the Office of Transportation and Air Quality Director Margo Oge to visit a family farm in Iowa.

Now Grassley has received word that McCarthy and Oge have accepted the invitation and will travel to Iowa in September.

"I appreciate the administration's willingness to visit and see first hand the impact their agency has on farmers and agriculture," Grassley said. "The idea is to acquaint them for the first time with American agriculture. Because they are making so many decisions affecting agriculture, they ought to see first hand how a family farm operates."

While the agenda is still in the works Grassley says the EPA officials will be in the Des Moines area and will visit a family farm and a biorefinery. Grassley has said he's hopeful the visitors will see the reality of how nature fits into a farming operation. Link

Sen. Grassley’s invitation to three top EPA officials has been accepted. Grassley questioned the effectiveness of the EPA trying to write indirect land use regulations when most of them have never even been on a farm. This is really one of the root causes of many of the issues facing agriculture today. Too many people think they understand it because their grandparents had a farm or they have read a book about it. In order to understand what happens at the farm level, you need to set foot on one and get your hands dirty. Until you have done so, you cannot begin to understand food production.