Tom Vilsack Not a Suitable Choice as Ag Secretary

Barack Obama nominated one of "our own" to his cabinet. But is Tom Vilsack qualified to be Secretary of Agriculture? If by agriculture you mean Big Ag, the folks who brought you GMOs, Cloned cattle, and CAFOs, you betcha. But if you mean agriculture that is sustainable and healthy, well let's just say Obama could have done a whole lot better than the Pittsburgh, PA raised Tom Vilsack.

According to the Organic Consumers Association, Vilsack’s positions have included the following:

• Vilsack has been a strong supporter of genetically engineered pharmaceutical crops, especially pharmaceutical corn.
• The biggest biotechnology industry group, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, named Vilsack Governor of the Year. He is also the founder and former chair of the Governor's Biotechnology Partnership.
• When Vilsack created the Iowa Values Fund, his first poster child for economic development was Trans Ova and their pursuit of cloning dairy cows.
• The undemocratic 2005 seed preemption bill was the Vilsack's brainchild. The law strips local government’s right to regulate genetically engineered seed.
• Vilsack is an ardent supporter of corn and soy based biofuels, which use as much or more energy to produce as they generate and drive up world food prices, literally starving the poor.
• During his time as governor "Vilsack oversaw the largest proliferation of hog confinements in the states history."

At a time when our food supply is "at risk," it makes little sense to promote a person who has been the head of a state with some of the environmentally unsound waterways in the country. If the President-Elect wants an Iowan to run the agency, I hear Denise O'Brien is available.

Edwards: Stop Building and Get Tough on Hog Lots

The Des Moines Register reports

Presidential candidate John Edwards stepped into a raging rural controversy this week as he toured the western Iowa countryside.

The former North Carolina senator told audiences that he would push for a national moratorium on building or expanding livestock confinement facilities. He also said he would push for tougher federal environmental regulations and for rigorous enforcement of current manure disposal laws.

He mostly was talking about hog confinement operations, which have pitted neighbors against each other in many rural Iowa areas. Operators say well-run facilities are a safe, efficient way to raise hogs and compete on the world market. But many neighbors say the facilities stink up the air and foul the water, devastate their property values, and drive small farmers out of business.

Some other presidential candidates have talked about the controversy, but a leading hog confinement critic said Edwards is the only one she's heard propose a national moratorium.

In an interview, Edwards said his interest in the issue stems from experiences in his home state, where hog confinements first proliferated.

"There are parts of North Carolina where if you drove through them, the smell was overwhelming," he said. "And we've had huge problems with the water and water supply because of it."

North Carolina passed a moratorium on confinement construction about 10 years ago, and its main rules remain in effect. The nation should do the same, Edwards said.

His proposal would affect confinement operations with more than about 2,500 hogs. Officials said Iowa has more than 1,000 such facilities.