Farmers vs. nutrition programs and the White House vegetable garden

Sen. Pat Roberts and seven other GOP senators have sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Villsack, asking Vilsack to stop "pitting the USDA against school nutrition programs," at least according to the headline of this story which caught my eye this morning. From the letter to Vilsack:

"You recently stated that the upcoming reauthorization of the school nutrition program and the larger agenda of the Department of Agriculture is a choice between 30 million children or 90,000 farmers. We believe you could not be more wrong about the choices that will confront policy makers and we sincerely hope you refrain from pitting the needs of children against the men and women who produce the food, feed, fiber and fuel we consume every day.

TK: This could be a tough year down on the farm, but growers of fruits and vegetables at least won't suffer the loss of direct payments and means-testing facing larger corn, cotton and soybean farmers.

Meanwhile, we see coverage here from The New York Times that the Obamas will plant a White House vegetable garden. From the story:

While the organic garden will provide food for the first family's meals and formal dinners, its most important role, Mrs. Obama said, will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at time when obesity has become a national concern.

In an interview in her office, Mrs. Obama said, "My hope is that through children, they will begin to educate their families and that will, in turn, begin to educate our communities."

TK: We know this; the White House vegetable garden CANNOT fail. No matter, what the obstacles, the harvest will come in

USDA to use tax records to check ag subsidy availability Des Moines Register
Farmers, get ready to let the Agriculture Department look at your tax records.In an effort to catch wealthy people who are ineligible for farm subsidies, recipients will be required to sign a form allowing the Internal Revenue Service to provide their tax records to USDA.USDA officials say their inability to get access to IRS records in the past has made it difficult to catch subsidy recipients who exceeded income limits.

Earth is running dry Business Wire
Eight million deaths a year are attributed to water and sanitation shortages and according to experts at the 5^th World Water Forum taking place in Istanbul this week, our planet is going to run out of fresh water resources unless immediate action is taken. With the goal of "not wasting a drop," the Forum calls all nations to implement necessary measures to stop the inevitable worldwide water shortage. With this spirit, elected representatives from around the world signed the Istanbul Water Consensus (IWC) on Thursday, March 19, 2009. The consensus was created to develop water management strategies in the face of global challenges.

Farm to fork food safety bill filed Bradenton Herald

Senate Bill 2098, the Farm to Fork Food Safety Act, would transfer and reassign duties relating to food service safety to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.When the federal government contacts the state with a food safety issue, the lines of communication would be clear with a single point of contact, Baker said Thursday.Terry McElroy, a spokesman with the Florida Department of Agriculture, said his department has not fully analyzed the bill and doesn't have a point of view on its provisions.

No way to police immigration Baltimore Sun
Since the 9/11 attacks, federal immigration agents have helped train local police and sheriff's deputies in enforcing the country's immigration laws. The program - now in use by 67 law enforcement agencies in 23 states - is supposed to help reduce serious crime. Frederick County Sheriff Charles Jenkins would tell you, as he did a congressional committee recently, that the program has helped his suburban county. But neither Sheriff Jenkins nor any one else has been able to show that this federal-local partnership has in fact reduced crime.Without that critical evidence, Congress should resist any effort to expand the program, known by its authorizing legislation: Section 287(g) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. The training program is not the answer to the country's illegal immigration woes. It's not even an effective Band-Aid.


E-verify to survive through September WBIR.com

The fate of a national employee verification program aimed at combating illegal immigration is safe for now, but it's unclear whether Congress will renew it beyond this fall. As long as the program, called E-Verify, is on the books, a New Jersey assemblyman wants all businesses in the state to use it to check the legal status of prospective employees. But immigrant-rights advocates are prepared to fight any attempt to expand the use of E-Verify in New Jersey, arguing that the Internet-based system is riddled with errors.

Tissues more popular than potatoes UK Telegraph

While bread is the most common purchase, found in 74 per cent of all shopping baskets, tissues comes in at number two, beating breakfast cereals, potatoes, apples and beef. The analysis was undertaken by Ocado, the online grocer that delivers Waitrose products. It examined 180,000 different online orders during February, when Britain was in the grip of snow storms and sub-zero temperatures with many people suffering from colds.

European industrial output plunges Bloomberg
European industrial production dropped by the most on record in January as the deepest global recession in more than six decades forced companies to cut output and curb investments.