Your intrepid blogger accompanied Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan for a visit to Tree and Leaf Farm for the roll-out of USDA's new Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food (KYF2) initiative on Monday, Sept. 14. Bloggers were selected for the visit, rather than mainstream media, because USDA has now moved into the 21st century and become social media savvy, in a happy turn of events that's going to really help boost the messaging for KYF2, which seeks to connect local eaters with their friendly local farmers, for health and nutrition reasons...and as a form of economic stimulus. USDA is also looking to create a national conversation on food, which includes all aspects of farming, eating...and, in an unprecedented move for USDA...cooking. The new, official KYF2 website is now live, and has all kinds of excellent informational and educational components. Dep. Sec. Merrigan will be hosting a live Facebook chat this Thursday, Oct. 1, from 3:45 to 4:15 PM Eastern time. Click the link to become a fan of USDA, and to join the conversation. You can submit a question in advance of the chat, or watch the conversation on the USDA website. Dep. Sec. Merrigan noted during the Tree and Leaf visit that she was rapidly getting up to speed on using Facebook...and the chat should be really excellent. (Above: The front page of the KYF2 website)
Dep. Sec. Merrigan chairs the KYF2 initiative, and it was months in planning, with USDA staff who are working on the project coming from every branch of the very big agency. A full list, with personal bios of the KYF2 team, is here. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has been promoting the new program in every one of his public appearances, all summer on the Rural Tour, and whenever he's made public remarks. In just the first roll-out week, USDA announced more than $65 million in funding that's being directed at boosting the small Ag sector, and there's potentially millions more in funding available, as Dep. Sec. Merrigan detailed in this unprecedented memo, which went out to USDA staff around the US. The full story on current grants and funding for KYF2 is here, and is very inclusive: In addition to focusing funding on farmers markets, there's a big financial component devoted helping farm to school nutrition programs become a reality across the country, as well as infrastructure, education, and rural revitalization components. (Above: Dep. Sec. Merrigan at Tree and Leaf Farm)
KYF2 is also the start of a new partnership with the White House. At the opening ceremony of the new Farmers Market BY the White House, the intertwined relationship First Lady Michelle Obama and her food policy team has with the progressive im-Ag-ineers at USDA was both announced--and very apparent. Mrs. Obama's team is led by Food Initiative Coordinator Sam Kass, and includes Domestic Policy Adviser Melody Barnes and Senior Policy Adviser Jocelyn Frye. Sec. Vilsack and Mrs. Obama both noted the joint partnership in their remarks at the Farmers Market, and KYF2 has identical nutrition and health messaging to that coming out of the White House. The two very different teams have been working together for a couple of months, as Ob Fo has noted before, in what is, for both the USDA and the White House, an unprecedented move to boost health and nutrition projects, promote local food sourcing, and create better food literacy across the culture. As part of the ongoing education and access project, USDA now has a searchable database to find your own local Farmers Market; that's here. There are, according to USDA stats, more than 4,900 markets across America. (Photo: Mrs. Obama and Sec. Vilsack at the opening of the WH Farmers Market)
Tree and Leaf Farm, site of Dep. Sec. Merrigan's KYF2 announcement, is about 40 miles outside DC in Loudon County, Virginia, and owned by husband and wife team Georgia O'Neal and Zachariah Lester. It's an excellent example of all that’s fantastic in the small farming world, and why KYF2 is critical. Georgia and Zach sustainably grow and harvest more than 40 kinds of vegetables, and have built their small-scale Ag business into good relationships with three farmers markets, caterers, and restaurants. There's a lot more they'll be able to do, with the kind of financial help that USDA is now focusing on smaller concerns with the KYF2 initiative. KYF2 is the kind of project that will help better balance our Ag economy, and foster a far more diversified approach to food and farming, as well as boost community elements. As the beginning of what Dep. Sec. Merrigan called "a four year adventure," it's looking pretty swell. (Above: From left, Zach in green, Georgia in red, Dep. Sec. Merrigan, sustainable activist Steven Madznik, and Ob Fo in black, hearing about the very naughty deer at Tree and Leaf, who like to eat the crops, one of the many challenges of farming...)Related: Mrs. Obama's remarks at the Farmers Market opening are here; Sam Kass cooks with Dep Sec. Merrigan in the USDA cafeteria as part of the KYF2 roll out is here; The White House Kitchen Garden as food policy game changer is here.
*The Farmers Market BY The White House, run by FreshFarm Markets, continues each Thursday through the end of October, from 3-7 PM, at 810 Vermont Avenue, NW (between H St, NW and I St, NW). Week two saw even more customers visitng than week 1.
