Wouldn't it be great if President-elect Obama picked a qualified North Dakota Ag expert to serve as his Agriculture Secretary?  A group of almost "90 notable figures in the world of sustainable agriculture and food sent a letter" to Barack Obama's transition team this week recommending 6 top agriculture experts to the position of Agriculture Secretary.  Here's an excerpt from the letter:

From rising childhood and adult obesity to issues of food safety, global warming and air and water pollution, we believe our next Secretary of Agriculture must have a vision that calls for: recreating regional food systems, supporting the growth of humane, natural and organic farms, and protecting the environment, biodiversity and the health of our children while implementing policies that place conservation, soil health, animal welfare and worker’s rights as well as sustainable renewable energy near the top of their agenda.

The Letter

The letter is signed by a bunch of chefs, farmers and animal welfare advocates. 

Here's their list of six:

1. Gus Schumacher, former Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services and former Massachusetts Commissioner of Agriculture.
2. Chuck Hassebrook, executive director, Center for Rural Affairs, Lyons, Neb.
3. Sarah Vogel, former Commissioner of Agriculture for North Dakota, lawyer, Bismarck, N.D.
4. Fred Kirschenmann, organic farmer, distinguished fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture in Ames, Iowa, and president of the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Pocantico Hills, NY.
5. Mark Ritchie, Minnesota Secretary of State, former policy analyst in Minnesota’s Department of Agriculture under Governor Rudy Perpich, co-founder of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.
6. Neil Hamilton, Dwight D. Opperman Chair of Law and director of the Agricultural Law Center, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa.

I think Sarah Vogel would make a great Ag Secretary. 

(Hat tip to Carla and NY Times Diners Journal Blog)

Comments (4)

I have issues said:

Other notable names Sarah should be on the top of the list and I hope that she is. She is not only a fantastic attorney but I am proud to call her my friend. She has worked hard for North Dakota and works hard for her clients. Interesting list of signatories...here is what I know about some of the others... Wendell Berry,writer, poet, farmer...per wikipedia: His nonfiction serves as an extended conversation about the life he values. According to Berry, the good life includes sustainable agriculture, appropriate technologies, healthy rural communities, connection to place, the pleasures of good food, husbandry, good work, local economics, the miracle of life, fidelity, frugality, reverence, and the interconnectedness of life. The threats Berry finds to this good life include: industrial farming and the industrialization of life, ignorance, hubris, greed, violence against others and against the natural world, the eroding topsoil in the United States, global economics, and environmental destruction. Eric Schlosser, wrote "Fast Food Nation" (if you still eat fast food...read it, you never or rarely will again!!) Michael Stumo, was at Organization for Competitive Markets...(referring mostly family cow-calf producers but also family farms.) Attorney, now with Coalition for a Prosperous America (http://www.prosperousamerica.org/) and is a FAIR trade v. free trade advocate. Patty Lovera, was with Public Citizen working on the No Irradiated Meat in Public Schools campaign several years ago. Now, she is with Food and Water Watch. http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/ Wenonah Hauter, also with Food and Water Watch Winona LaDuke, Native American activist, environmentalist, advocate and writer...she has spoken in Bismarck many times. Susan Stokes, She is the Executive Director of FLAG (Farmers Legal Action Group) (http://www.flaginc.org/topics/about/staff.php)

report abuse vote down vote up

December 05, 2008
Votes: +0

Deb said:

	OMG!! If Sarah got it that'd be great! If she moves to D.C., she promised me I could buy her house. Which - is fantabulous, btw. Just like her!
	report abuse vote down vote up

December 05, 2008
Votes: +0

40 Years in the DemNPL said:

	She'd be awesome Sarah deserves it, and the nation deserves her.
	report abuse vote down vote up

December 05, 2008
Votes: +0

waterjoe said:

	... Fred Kirschenmann, by the way, is also a North Dakotan. He just happens to someplace else right now.
	report abuse vote down vote up

December 08, 2008
Votes: +0

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment Preview