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usda.gov - 2/13/2009

Release No. 0042.09

— usda.gov — WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2009 -- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today "broke pavement" on the inaugural USDA The... People's Garden during a ceremony on the grounds of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) commemorating the 200th birthday of Abraham ... (more) Release No. 0042.09

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usda.gov - 2/6/2009

Release No. 0035.09

— usda.gov — WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2009 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that a new pilot project will... permit producers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin to plant such vegetables as cucumbers, green peas, lima ... (more) Release No. 0035.09

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Tom Vilsack

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Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

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ethicurean.com - 2/3/2009

Ready, set, go change the food system: A checklist for evaluating new USDA’s first six months

— ethicurean.com — Above: National Agricultural Library archival image , shot from the Washington Monument in the mid-1920s; US Department... of Agriculture greenhouses on the Mall are shown in foreground. The food system in this country has broken down like a ... (more) Ready, set, go change the food system: A checklist for ...

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Food Shortage

Climate Change

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Digest: Vilsack’s tightrope, the urban bounty, and a new era for “micro-farms”
The Ethicurean — Music to our ears: USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, who some in the good-food movement have blasted for his ties to agribusiness, sounds a sweet note by calling for a “new day” for the agency in which it serves both farmers and the nation’s 300 million eaters. Is it all talk, or will we see some action? (Washington Post) Holding out hope for Hassebrook: Speaking of action, Nicholas Kristof hopes that Vilsack will confirm the rumor that he’s an open-minded reformer by supporting the nomination of Chuck Hassebrook from the Center for Rural Affairs - who echoes Obama’s call for farm subsidy reforms - as Deputy Secretary of the USDA. (New York Times) Small farms, big bounty: Reversing a decades-long ...

How to Build a Sustainable Economy: Lessons from the Nearings
Chelsea Green — Pioneering homesteaders Helen and Scott Nearing dared to ask, “Should we seek profit above all things?” As we are beginning to see in our society, an economic system based on endless growth is not only unsustainable but immoral. It’s high time the “Greed Is Good” mantra of the go-go 80s was taken out behind the shed and shot. Because there is more to life than money. There’s community. Family. And food. Good, natural, organic (whether certified or not) food that connects us to the soil and to our neighbors. Not empty calories and high fructose corn syrup of ersatz supermarket eats, but the good stuff. The stuff that reminds us that we are alive. Here’s Paula Crossfield on some of the lessons we should learn from Helen ...