[OKC] Obama's Secretary of Food?

[Shauna Struby]

Hear, hear!

 

December 11, 2008

Op-Ed Columnist


Obama's 'Secretary of Food'? 


By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/nic
holasdkristof/index.html?inline=nyt-per> 

As Barack Obama ponders whom to pick as agriculture secretary, he should
reframe the question. What he needs is actually a bold reformer in a
position renamed "secretary of food."

A Department of Agriculture made sense 100 years ago when 35 percent of
Americans engaged in farming. But today, fewer than 2 percent are farmers.
In contrast, 100 percent of Americans eat.

Renaming the department would signal that Mr. Obama seeks to move away from
a bankrupt structure of factory farming that squanders energy, exacerbates
climate change and makes Americans unhealthy - all while costing taxpayers
billions of dollars. 

"We're subsidizing the least healthy calories in the supermarket - high
fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated soy oil, and we're doing very little
for farmers trying to grow real food," notes Michael Pollan, author of such
books as "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food."

More here ::: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/opinion/11kristof.html?_r=1 

 

::: shauna lawyer struby

 

 

 

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