Connections: Tom Vilsack's Campaign to "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food"...And President Obama Under Pressure to "Know Your Tires"

Ag Secretary Vilsack rolls out a legacy-making campaign, while the President faces pressure from competing interests...and somehow it's all connected to pork
President Obama is being warned by an ad hoc coalition of Ag interests that restricting imports of Chinese tires will seriously impact US agricultural exports to China: If we don't buy Chinese tires, they ain't gonna buy our Ag products is the thinking here. China is one of the biggest US markets for poultry, pork and soybeans, and companies like Hormel and Tyson foods have asked US trade rep Ron Kirk to advise President Obama to not restrict imports of Chinese tires, to ensure that China continues to buy American Ag products. It's a dicey situation, because Ag sales in the US are down in general, and the US pork market in particular has been dropping for the last two years, and experienced a further drop when countries around the globe banned US pork imports on fears of Swine Flu contamination in the Spring. --Our porkonomy is so down, in fact, that Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announced yesterday that he's going to spend $30 million more for pork purchases with USDA funds, to put pork into federal feeding programs, such as school breakfast and lunch programs. Last month, Sec. Vilsack said that USDA was out of money for pork commodity purchases until October; USDA has already purchased millions of dollars in pork products this year. But Iowa Governor Chet Culver and eight other governors petitioned Sec. Vilsack for a $50 million pork purchase in July, and they've kept the pressure on through August. Sec. Vilsack's new announcement is being regarded as a meet-in-the-middle win-win. Iowa, the largest pork producing state, is especially happy with Sec. Vilsack's latest announcement. (Photo: The President listens to Sec. Vilsack speak, back in December, when POTUS first announced Vilsack's nom as Ag Secretary)

Is tossing $30 million in pork products into school nutrition programs the best use of USDA funds? At the moment, pork as a food group is extremely over represented in the federal feeding programs, and there are all kinds of school lunch advocacy groups across the country lobbying Congress to get better, fresher, minimally processed and locally-sourced foods into school lunch programs, as well as to boost federal spending on school food programs. And there's lots of interest on the Hill in this, too (Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) and Sen. Kirsten Gillebrand (D-NY) come immediately to mind) Past commodity pork purchases for the feeding programs have included plenty of canned and highly processed meat, from big companies that centralize production rather than rely on local and regional production. Yet this summer, Sec.Vilsack himself has been touring the country talking up his new Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food campaign, which theoretically emphasizes the healthiest of foods, and supports smaller and family farmers by encouraging things like farm to school programs, farmers markets, and community access to fresher, more nutritious foods, and has the added benefit of keeping local cash in local economies. Bigger Ag companies have been liking this campaign, too, because they actually source from smaller farmers, too. Sec. Vilsack will make a big announcement about Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food shortly, with a major roll out of the campaign and lots of high-profile people showing up for a week-long series of events, according to USDA insiders. Secretary Vilsack stands to leave a lasting legacy of progressive, much-needed change in the fundamental ways Americans understand the Ag economy and how we participate in it, whether this involves working in it or enjoying its products. But at the moment the campaign seems to be skewing a little too much toward Know Your Hog Farmer, Know Your Pork. Sec. Vilsack has been doing a terrific job of trying to meet the needs of all segments of the Ag economy, large and small, but your intrepid blogger is getting whiplash from keeping up with him.

President Obama, BTW, has until Sept. 17 to make a decision on the China tire trade issue...and he's getting a lot of pressure from groups outside the Ag sector to reduce these imports.