Ag is the Foundation of our Society

Ag aiding economy


By: Jerry Hagstrom, Special to Agweek

WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, in a Dec. 1 news conference, highlighted recently released trade and income statistics showing agriculture leading the country out of the recession.

Vilsack said USDA forecasts that U.S. farm exports in fiscal year 2011 will set a record high $126.5 billion, exceeding the fiscal year 2008, formerly the highest level on record at $114.9 billion.

Agriculture continues to be one of the only major sectors of the American economy with a trade surplus — which is expected to be $41 billion in this fiscal year, Vilsack noted. He said the forecast “demonstrates that the demand for U.S. food and agriculture around the world is stronger than ever,” with sales surging in China, Southeast Asia, North America and the Middle East.    Read More

Agriculture truly is the foundation for our society, and that includes our economy.  All wealth comes from the ground which is why a domestically raised food supply is so critical.  The instant we start relying on someone else to grow our food our country will be in grave danger. 

Displacing Ag Land

Agriculture chief disputes USDA climate bill study
By Jerry Hagstrom
CongressDaily December 18, 2009

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Friday took issue with a report his own agency has issued on the impact of the House-passed climate change bill, which concluded there will be a large-scale conversion of cropland to forestland.

The study, authored by USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber, said the bill would help the agriculture sector overall. But it also said if the price of carbon allowances increases to $70 per ton of carbon dioxide by 2050, almost 60 million more acres of land would be converted to forest, 35 million acres of which would come from cropland.

That would be a 14 percent decline in cropland from the current level and take away 24 million acres from pasture -- an almost 9 percent decline.

The analysis was based on the Forest and Agricultural Sector Optimization Model by researchers at Texas A&M University, which EPA has used to study climate legislation.

Glauber's testimony on the study before a House Agriculture subcommittee Dec. 6 had led some farm leaders and Republicans to warn such a shift would lead to much higher food production and consumer food costs. Vilsack echoed those concerns Friday, saying that the scenario would be "disruptive to agriculture in some regions of the country."

But Vilsack added that he took away from his talks with Glauber that the economist does not believe the increased forest forecast is "necessarily an accurate depiction of the impacts of climate legislation."

Vilsack said the model could be updated and noted that Glauber testified that careful design of an offsets program could avoid "unintended consequences." Link

When we are at a time when we need to be doubling food production, our society can’t afford to have government policies that will reduce available farm land. This will make it more difficult to keep affordable food available to families. Along with that, it will make it more difficult for farming families to stay in business. Land availability is an issue already in most areas. Remember, all of this is supposed to solve a problem that might not even exist. Is it worth more hungry people?

Vilsack Urges Media To Get It Right

Vilsack admonishes media for misrepresenting flu virus
Sep 11, 2009 9:32 AM, By Dale Miller, Editor, National Hog Farmer

"I want folks who are in the business of conveying information to understand that behind that message there is a family sitting at a breakfast table wondering how in the hell they are going to pay the bills, when they continually have to sell pork for less than what it costs to produce as they continue to get hammered for something that they had absolutely nothing to do with."

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack held a press conference Sept. 10 with the intended purpose of explaining the USDA’s preparedness to handle the potential onset H1N1 influenza this fall.

As the 30-minute media briefing drew on, the secretary’s exasperation with the general media’s persistent misrepresentation of the 2009 Pandemic H1N1 Influenza Virus as “swine flu” became apparent.

“As you know, since last spring and the onset of the H1N1 outbreak in humans, USDA has consistently asked those in the media who convey information to consumers and to citizens to be careful about what they call this virus. We would ask, respectfully, that the media give serious consideration to transitioning from what they have been doing — which is to call this (virus) the swine flu, incorrectly, to considering using H1N1 as the appropriate name for this virus.”

“It is not swine flu,” he admonished. “It’s just not correct to call it that. It‘s a novel virus and the most appropriate and correct way to refer to it is 2009 Pandemic H1N1 Influenza Virus This may seem difficult or silly to some people — but it’s not if you’re out there trying to make a living and taking care of your family.” Read More

Since many in the media seem to be more concerned about causing a panic among the public, it should be no surprise that they have been reluctant to use the correct name of the virus. It should be more important to them to be accurate with their information, but sadly it isn’t and it is affecting America’s family hog farmers. Getting the media to change the name they use has been a big job but many gains have been made and it’s been due to the efforts of America’s farmers and ranchers. The work isn’t done however, so remind people, whenever you get the chance, to use the accurate name of H1N1 virus.

Assistance for Pork Industry

USDA may help ailing pork industry hit by H1N1
Thu May 7, 2009 2:23pm EDT

By Christopher Doering

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. pork industry, battered by import bans by nearly two dozen countries worried about the H1N1 flu outbreak, could soon receive some help from the government, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Thursday.

"Clearly pork producers have suffered and will continue to do so until we get this turned around," Vilsack told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. "We are looking at ways we can be of assistance or help," he said.

Vilsack did not go into details on what type of aid the industry might receive or when it would occur.

In a letter to the USDA earlier this week, the National Pork Producers Council said low prices have compounded a slump in the pork industry. It suggested USDA buy $50 million in pork products for donation to food pantries and hunger relief to bolster hog prices. Read More

Because consumers really don’t understand where their food comes from or how it is produced, issues like having a flu virus named after a farm animal are doomed to continue haunting agriculture. That is unless all of us take everyday opportunities to educate people about agriculture. Sometimes its easy to think we don’t have time to promote ag, but look at how much money this flu virus cost the pork industry.

Blaming Agriculture

Where the Obesity Grows
By George F. Will
Sunday, March 8, 2009

Tom Vilsack, Iowa's former governor, calls his "the most important department in government," noting that the Agriculture Department serves education through school nutrition programs and serves diplomacy by trying to wean Afghanistan from a poppy-based (meaning heroin-based) economy. But Vilsack's department matters most because of the health costs of the American diet. If Michael Pollan is right, the problem is rooted in politics and, in a sense, Iowa.

Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food," says that after World War II, the government had a huge surplus of ammonium nitrate, an ingredient of explosives -- and fertilizer. Furthermore, pesticides could be made from ingredients of poison gases. Since 1945, the food supply has increased faster than America's population -- faster even than Americans can increase their feasting.

Agricultural commodity prices generally fall. But since a rare surge in food prices gave the Nixon administration a political scare, government policy, expressed in commodity subsidies, has been, Pollan writes, to sell "large quantities of calories as cheaply as possible," especially calories coming from corn.

"All flesh is grass" says the scripture. Much of the too-ample flesh of Americans (three of five are overweight; one in five is obese) comes from corn, which is a grass. A quarter of the 45,000 items in the average supermarket contain processed corn. Fossil fuels are involved in planting, fertilizing, harvesting, transporting and processing the corn. America's food industry uses about as much petroleum as America's automobiles do. Read More

This is some extremely poor journalism for a very respected author. Basically, Will took everything that Pollan said as truth without doing any type of background research. He took Pollan’s complaints, which are based on unfounded fears, yet offers no analysis of what could be done differently. And while there are different ways to farm, there are only a few ways that will produce enough food to feed everyone.

Interview with Vilsack

Tom Vilsack, The New Face Of Agriculture
Wednesday, February 11, 2009; F01

Sustainable-food and farming activists in Washington have long felt they were on the outside looking in. New Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack says he wants to change that. In an interview with staff writer Jane Black, the former Iowa governor, 58, talked about his personal struggles with food and about his vision of how to transform the department -- maybe even rename it -- to serve a broader range of interests. Edited excerpts follow:

Some in the sustainable-food community have worried that you are too closely identified with ethanol and agribusiness. Is that fair?
First, I would ask for the opportunity for people to get to know me and judge me by the actions I take in this office. I'm not sure the full nature of the record was understood.

Will local foods play a part?
In a perfect world, everything that was sold, everything that was purchased and consumed would be local, so the economy would receive the benefit of that. But sometimes that stresses the capacity: the production capacity or the distribution capacity. Especially since we don't have yet a very sophisticated distribution system for locally grown food. One thing we can do is work on strategies to make that happen. It can be grant programs, loan programs, it can be technical assistance. Read More

Any time there is a new administration in Washington DC, people are searching for clues as to how things will be ran. There has been considerable interest in the Department of Agriculture this time around. Regardless of what the name on the building is or who they work for, at the end of the day our government must create an environment that allows producers to do what they do best, and that is feeding and clothing this country.

And one other thing, do we really need a sophisticated distribution system for local food? I thought that was the point of the local food movement.