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TechnoratiVote for White House Farmer
Author Michael Pollan suggested last fall that the next president--as part of a broader move to encourage understanding of and support for sustainable agriculture--should appoint a White House Farmer.
"Since enhancing the prestige of farming as an occupation is critical to developing the sun-based regional agriculture we need, the White House should appoint, in addition to a White House chef, a White House farmer," wrote Pollan, the author of books such as The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. "This new post would be charged with implementing what could turn out to be your most symbolically resonant step in building a new American food culture. And that is this: tear out five prime south-facing acres of the White House lawn and plant in their place an organic fruit and vegetable garden."
The idea caught on, and the campaign to get President Obama to appoint a White House farmer has captured the imagination of tens of thousands of Americans--thanks in no small part to an election that is being held to select three finalists for the position. Their names will be submitted to Obama as part of the campaign to get him to embrace Pollin's proposal.
The voting finishes at midnight Saturday, and several dozen contenders are making their pitches at the great White House Farmer website.
Pioneering chef and restaurateur Alice Waters is in the running.
Here's her campaign statement:
Alice Waters was born on April 28,1944, in Chatham, New Jersey. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1967 with a degree in French Cultural Studies, and trained at the Montessori School in London before spending a seminal year traveling in France. Alice opened Chez Panisse in 1971, serving a single fixed-price menu that changes daily. The set menu format remains at the heart of Alice's philosophy of serving only the highest quality products, only when they are in season. Over the course of three decades, Chez Panisse has developed a network of mostly local farmers and ranchers whose dedication to sustainable agriculture assures Chez Panisse a steady supply of pure and fresh ingredients. Alice is a strong advocate for farmer's markets and for sound and sustainable agriculture. In 1996, in celebration of the restaurant's twenty-fifth anniversary, she created the Chez Panisse Foundation to help underwrite cultural and educational programs such as the one at the Edible Schoolyard that demonstrate the transformative power of growing, cooking, and sharing food.
Another popular contender, Wisconsin community gardener Claire Strader says:
Claire is just the woman to turn 5 acres of the White House lawn into the nation's premier urban farm. Claire has worked in small-scale organic agriculture for 15 years, including her 8 years at Troy Community Farm where she turned a 5-acre parcel of weedy urban landscape into a highly productive and wonderfully beautiful vegetable farm. Not only does Claire produce food for CSA, market, and wholesale on this small urban farm, she also educates college students, high-school youth, and adult volunteers through the farm's internship programs. Claire is an excellent farmer and educator who could not only feed the first family and others in the DC community well, but also serve as a brilliant role model for future farmers all over this country.What's more, Claire's farm is part of a larger non-profit that also runs a 5-acre community garden, a restored prairie, and several kids' gardening programs on 26 open acres in the city of Madison, WI. Community GroundWorks at Troy Gardens not only feeds people, it also teaches people to feed themselves. Claire's work with this organization connects her with other growers and educators who have the skills and ambition to help this country both eat local and grow local. First the White House lawn, then the lawns across the nation!
Read up on the candidates and cast your vote for White House Farmer.
It's easy--just go to the White House Farmer site and read up on the contenders. Then go to the voting list and click your candidate.
It's also important. The United States can and should be a leader when it comes to smart policies with regard to land and food issues.
Just as the appointed Surgeon General can and should be an important communicator with regard to medical issues, an appointed White House Farmer could become a major player in the debate what we eat and how we produce it.
20 Comments so far
Show Allour country is in big trouble, we do not need a bigger paddle for our life boat, we need a smaller boat. a family garden in the back yard is a good way to start. we waste too much land with useless grass, and the water that goes with it. imagine the amount of petrol used to move our daily produce. local produce is possible and the way to go.
I nominate and vote for George Siemon, president and CEO of Organic Valley, Family of Farms. I have spoken with this man personally on the phone and know him to be a cowardly ideologue devoted to perception management, unable to fathom anything else. He should therefore work well with the bulk of politicians in D.C. and certainly should be able to assist Monsanto in the drive for corporate wealth enhancing fake organics and further contribute to the perilous decline and planned eradication of genuine family farms.
Personal note: Organic Valley has failed this family farmer, putting undue stress on our family and caring not. Am I mad at Organic Valley for their irresponsibility and failures?
Damn right.
I am running for White House Farmer! If necessary this will be a write-in campaign.
This is what I've submitted at the link:
White House Farmer
I submit myself to run for White House Farmer. My family has fought for justice since the Great Depression. I’m a community organizer. I direct market and am in organic transition. My top priority is to stop world starvation without dumping on LDC farmers. I'm the very top progressive farmer in the U.S. in the past year on "farm bill" and "food crisis" [justice], just google my name and these terms. No other nominee can come close to my record. I'm the only nominee leading the fight for a farm ecomomic stimulus package that pays for itself and ends worldwide dumping. See more at the Common Dreams article by John Nichols.
Well, you're already here.
My record speaks for itself, just google me, as indicated here. I ask for support from those who post comments here, who have read my efforts.
Also, on this question of getting the progressive movement on target on these issues, I convened a breakfast meeting with John Nichols at the Iowa CCI conference last summer. John, are you out there? How about a plug?
Thank you. If you can't vote for me, please submit a write-in vote at: http://whitehousefarmer dot com/Index.php?page_id=3#usermessagea
Ok, that was off the cuff.
For this bully pulpit:
1. Food crisis. I would work to bring Nyeleni to the White House Farm, for example, to show solidarity. Nyeleni or whoever best represents her spirit. (Google that! Or ask Family Farm Defenders, I'll bet they know.) I would promote support for Via Campesina at the White House Farm.
2. Farm Bill. I first, in campaigning, want to bring attention to this crucial opportunity, with Senate Agriculture Chair Tom Harkin as mentor to Agriculture Secretary Vilsack and Obama. This is huge and needs attention. John Nichols, surely you understand this. This farm bill will very likely fail. Progressives need to be ready, beyond the problems of the past, which I've extensively worked to counteract. I understand the big billions which were hidden to most progressives, the below cost gains, (not subsidies) which are the true cause of our biggest problems, including the food crisis. I propose to grow "program crops" to illustrate these issues.
3. Nutrition. I would emphasize grassfed organic nutrition, against transfats. I'm on record on the issue of the processing complex's false attack on saturated fats, which led to widespread bad fats. On many issues, as a google search shows, I've led in rooting out issues unknown to others. How about the moveable chicken system I invented on the white house lawn, with electric netting fence to illustrate new technology. The girls can do chores and gather eggs.
4. Economic Crisis. A farm based economic stimulus package like the New Deal Farm Programs and the Steagall Amendment of 1941 (which had no commodity subsidies) would not cost money, it would pay for itself. 1933-1952, it was estimated, the key programs made $13,000,000 for the government, rather than costing money, by one estimate. The payments to the government came from interest on price floor loans. This could tie in to the victory garden concept. Farming, especially diversified humane sustainable family farming, has powerful "economic multipliers" which are needed worldwide, another issue where I'm leading. "Wealth creation" must be more than value added (and then secretly subtracted) as in the case of CAFOs. CAFOs hurt our economy and reduce the available "jobs," Sustainable systems create more wealth (more value) by reconciling many values. As Charles Hampden-Turner argued, you can't just add the value of a car's high performance to its low mileage. I can illustrate this with sustainable production at the white house.
5."Farm share" of the food dollar. Another key issue you can search and see I'm way out in the lead on. We must subtract input complex share (Monsanto and friends), and then farm share is below 8%, and much lower for corn flakes and wheat bread. Stewart Smith projected (not a prediction) farm share disappearing by 2020.
More: I can drive oxen. I would like to teach this skill to Obama. And then illustrate how grass based farming for the 21st century uses draft power: to harvest the feed, to spread fertilizer, as my chickens, turkeys, cows, hogs, and sheep have done!
I'm a writer: Hog Farming and the Human Spirit." I'm a farm poet and song writer and (folk) performer. My latest is a song on the farm bill. I'm working on a booklet for churches: "Beyond Breadcrumbs: Crossing the Red Sea for Distributive Justice in the Commodity Title of the U.S. Farm Bill." I know city slicker jokes and would like to give Obama my "City Slicker Test."
Why am I running? To draw attention to crucial progressive farm issues at this key moment, (google my name and "Harkin" regarding this moment,) in my campaign, and as far as I can take this. We must break through on the issues I've repeatedly raised, to overcome this crucifying dilemma: We must feed the hungry, but with purchases from Least Developed Country farmers at "living wage," "fair trade" prices. (Google me on that.) The moment is exactly now.
Ok, I met Obama in Cedar Rapids. I asked him about these issues. He replied with support for a farm bill sort of like the Democrats were proposing in Congress, sort of like subsidy oriented progressives were proposing. I countered with the key fact that such proposals do nothing about the much larger below cost gains, in the multibillions, for individual agribusiness processors. Obama's agreed that, "what farmers really need is a price in the marketplace," which indeed would be the biggest answer to the problem of below cost gains subsidizing corn syrup, transfats, CAFOs, ethanol, and dumping on LDCs.
jc, you'd be surprised at how many urban gardens are beginning to sprout up. I'm a permaculture gardener, and you'd also be surprised at how much you can grow in a very small space. Many front-yard gardens could go a long ways to provide year-round healthy eating.
A word for the futre: Garden, or learn to, or die. Simple as that.
I see you have THE ANSWER. That's really helpful to kids in crowded urban neighborhoods.
Joe
I am not arguing against community gardens. I love the idea, especially for suburbs where so much space is taken with resource-eating lawns. Just doubtful if community gardens can be sufficient answers to hunger in large cities. Obviously you cannot grow enough staples such as wheat, rice or potatoes within city limits but must rely on farms outside, transportation, markets. Or am I mistaken? How much do Caracas' gardens contribute to the food supply there? I'll bet Hugo Chavez has some other food policy initiatives.
I live on the 20th floor of a middle income building of 250 families. We are surrounded by similar buildings, some low income and some very expensive. It is dense here. Front lawns are practically non-existent. We have a few "vest pocket" organic community gardens within a radius of a couple of miles, but it is just a gesture. (They provide a place to relax, a bower for bee DNA, for instance.) The city tries to shut such things down all the time. But even if were increased a thousand fold it would not make a dent in the food situation around here.
But I am ready to have my mind changed. I would appreciate any links or recommendations that have a different take on the problem - including measures of scale.
Joe
Actually learning self sufficiency in hard times IS an excellent idea, and there are all sorts of urban gardens in abandoned lots:
212,000 hits on google for "urban garden:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en-us&q=%22urban+garden%22&btnG=Search
It is also very calming to boot.
OK hoot hoooot hoot hoot I feel better... :)
I am very much for community gardens for many reasons: the beauty, the friendship, the quality that is so much better than what you get in the store. Many people in urban neigbhorhoods have never eaten a warm tomato off the vine... Working consistently and then seeing something come from nothing is an almost transformational experience for people.
Community gardens should be developed everywhere to their maximum potential. Fruit trees should be planted everywhere and people re-introduced to canning. In suburbs, there is a huge opportunity to improve the supply of fresh food. We could even design new ways for chickens to fit into a residential community. (My grandmother was a miner's widow who raised a large family with chickens, eggs, a garden and selling bootleg vodka - self sufficiency I would say).
In fact I once headed a two year gardening mini-project for teenagers - but it was about designing and planting a bed of flowers on the one patch of grass on the block of six story apartment buildings. One kid used the word "Paradise" to describe the garden. It was a safe place to meet up with all the chaos around. And the tending of the garden was as calming as hooting for all of us, perhaps more (no offense, sweet bird).
Had we planted food there, however, it might have amounted to one zucchini per family on the block per year, hardly a meaningful contribution to self-sufficiency.
I tried to find out how much land you need to feed a person and found this from Cornell: "Agronomists, however, stress that more than 1.2 acres per person are needed for a productive agriculture, one that produces a varied diet of plant and animal products". So even if you eliminate cows and meat from the mix, it is probably at least one quarter acre for subsistence per person. That is an acre for every family of four. Think of the blocks and blocks of six story buildings, and the projects with their high rises, etc. There is nowhere near enough land within walking or driving distance to support an area like Brooklyn. Then there is carrying in the water and paying for it, which in say LA might be an issue.
The point is that food self-sufficiency will not be gained through farming the few vacant lots or plots of grass in crowded neighborhoods where people live stacked on top of one another. The ratio of people to available land is way way out of scale. Most of the people who live in such communities have a negative net worth and little income, so any suggestion to pick up and buy land, equipment, learn agriculture and start a farm is based on naive assumptions. This is especially true now when so many tens of thousands are losing their jobs.
A White House Farmer, ideally, would be able to promote community and lawn gardening, but also have an approach to helping and improving traditional local food farming. Also, some way to convert our huge huge over-production of corn for raising meat into something more varied. This would require some research, cultural, economic and technological upheaval of "ingrained" habits.
Hoot hoot
Joe
If we planted all the shopping mall parking lots, and and road medians with food and native plants I bet you'd be shocked how much food could be grown and how much cleaner air in cities would be.
That kid actually used the correct word for garden. In Persian Paradise is the word for Garden :).
Thanks for this. I felt at the time that this teenager had reached into something old and beautiful. Now I can mentally compare that garden to a Persian miniature.
Joe
There are hundreds of high-yield cash-crop farmers working with hydroponics in abandoned SE DC warehouses. I'd say that growing 5 acres of leaf on the land at 1600 Pennsylvania might go a long way to offsetting the need for an economic stimulus package.
Never criticize a man until you've walked a mile in their moccasins - Native American proverb.
Are many of those cash crops cannabis related?
"Most people would sooner die than think, in fact they do so. Bertrand Russell
These nominations surprise me. Does anyone have an estimate of the potential of small community gardens and lawn gardens to meet urban food needs? Are they practical? Do they have mostly inspirational potential as sort of "Tolstoy Farms"?
I would like to see a White House Farmer who has a vision of community gardens, but also the mettle to help small or medium sized traditional farmers and stand up to agribusiness when it comes to allocating farm supports. The Cornyns and Kyls of the world will fight tooth and nail against distributing support for agriculture to small independents.
Joe