Third reason sustainable ag should be excited about Obama: Health care, and everything else that doesn’t have to do with USDA.
Health care is the single most important issue facing farmers in this country (just ask, they’ll tell you) and without health insurance reform family farmers simply will not survive. Moreover, without decent health coverage, we will never- never- have the number of farmers we need to grow our food sustainably. I don’t think Obama’s health insurance plan will solve all of our problems, but it’s about a bajillion times better than McCain’s.
And let’s not forget that many other government agencies (besides USDA) hold sway over some aspect of agriculture. And an Obama administration would, without a doubt, appoint people to those agencies that would be more friendly to sustainable ag, even if they didn’t realize it. For example, Elanor over at Ethicurean highlights EPA perfidy occuring right now:
CAFOs should be regulated in this way, there’s no question. The operations release billions of pounds of toxic gases into the air each year, including methane, hydrogen sulfide, and ammonia, all of which cause highly unpleasant side effects in humans…
But as I reported in March, the EPA wanted to exempt animal manure from the reporting requirements, so CAFOs would no longer need to report air pollution from their manure lagoons or other sites. And this week, the government’s Office of Management and Budget announced that the final rule exempting manure had been handed down from EPA.
Ugh. So while some may say that Obama might appoint the same old agribusiness cheerleaders, the fact remains that even if that is the case, he’s a lot more likely to appoint some true progressives in other positions that substantially impact agriculture. So while Obie-one might appoint somebody nauseating as Secretay of Ag, it’s hard to imagine he would appoint somebody truly awful to head the EPA. And he’s more likely to fight for health insurance legislation. Did I mention that was important?
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