The article first appeared in May 3rd at www.meatingplace.com, a meat industry website and reprinted at May 4th at www.ciclt.net/sn/new/n_detail.aspx?ClientCode=ncagbc&N_Id=21266, a website for North Carolina ag-business.  Snopes as no mention of the article.
Alan

Date: Wed, 5 May 2010 07:16:50 -0400
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Fw: Senators accuse USDA of favoring "hobbyist" farmers
To: [log in to unmask]










 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Scott MacKenzie 

To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 6:52 AM
Subject: Fw: Senators accuse USDA of favoring "hobbyist" 
farmers


I am not sure if this liget and if it is it sounds 
bad Scott
----- Original Message ----- 
From: scott 
macKenzie
To: [log in to unmask] 
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 3:02 PM
Subject: Fw: Senators accuse USDA of favoring "hobbyist" 
farmers


FYI 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: 
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 2:11 PM
Subject: [NODPA-ODAIRY] Senators accuse USDA of favoring "hobbyist" 
farmers



Senators accuse USDA of favoring “hobbyist” farmers   By 
Rita Jane Gabbett on 5/3/2010 
  

  
  
    
      
        
        
          
            
              
              
                

            Three Republican senators asked Agriculture 
            Secretary Tom Vilsack to justify USDA's Know Your Farmers, Know Your 
            Food (KYF2) initiative, which they said subsidizes the "locavore 
            niche market" and "hobbyist" producers instead of rural communities 
            and the farmers who produce the vast majority of the nation's food 
            supply. 

In a letter to Vilsack dated April 27, Senators John 
            McCain (R-Ariz.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) 
            asked for an itemized breakdown of all awards made under the KYF2 
            initiative detailing amounts, receiving organizations and the USDA 
            programs under which the awards were made. 

"In the name of 
            promoting local food systems, the Department appears to be 
            prioritizing Rural Development grant and loan programs for locavore 
            projects in urban areas, apparently at the expense of rural 
            communities with documented rural development needs," the letter 
            charged. "Given our nation's crippling budgetary crisis, we also 
            believe the federal government cannot afford to spend precious Rural 
            Development funds on feel-good measures which are completely 
            detached from the realities of production agriculture." 
            

Specifically, the senators pointed to an Aug. 26, 2009 memo 
            from USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan which they said 
            encouraged agency chiefs to take programs — such as the USDA 
            Community Facilities Program originally intended for essential 
            community facilities related to healthcare and public safety in 
            rural areas — and re-imagine them as grant money for community 
            cooking classes or refrigeration units in urban areas. 

They 
            said the Merrigan memo also expressed her intent to use $31 million 
            in stimulus grants and another $930 million in stimulus loans for 
            the KYF2 initiative. 

"American families and rural farmers 
            are hurting in today's economy, and it's unclear to us how propping 
            up the urban locavore markets addresses their needs," the senators 
            wrote. 

Vilsack responds 

In an April 30 return 
            letter to the Senators made available to Meatingplace, 
            Vilsack defended KYF2 and Merrigan's memo. 

"I believe 
            cultivating these new markets — not replacing old ones — is critical 
            to revitalizing rural America," he wrote. He added that local and 
            regional food systems can expand markets for producers of all sizes. 
            

"Further, I can assure you that when reviewing applications 
            none of these programs are providing preference to local and 
            regional food system projects, except as provided for in their 
            existing regulatory rules or legislative authority, such as the 5 
            percent set-aside established in the 2008 farm bill for business and 
            industry," he added. 

Vilsack called Merrigan's Aug. 26 memo, 
            "an example of our efforts to enhance awareness of our programs and 
            utilize them more effectively." 

He went on to say, "For 
            example, while the Community Facilities program will continue to 
            support critical public safety needs, it serves as a reminder that 
            communities can also utilize the program to finance other essential 
            community facilities, which in turn create new economic 
            opportunities for local and regional producers." 

In response 
            to the Senators' request, Vilsack included a 90-page accounting of 
            funding awards associated with its KYF2 concept. 

For 
            example, $78,051 was granted to People's Grocery in Oakland, Calif. 
            to purchase infrastructure to improve fresh food access in the West 
            Oakland community. The grant was to establish a mid-sized, 
            accessible food retail outlet to provide residents with adequate 
            access to fresh and affordable foods, and strengthen and expand a 
            sustainable supply chain of local farmers, producers and People's 
            Grocery agricultural products. 

A grant of $29,700 went to 
            the National Bison Association to develop curriculum, conduct 
            workshops, develop educational resources, establish an on-line 
            e-commerce site, develop point of sale informational material, and 
            conduct an assessment of these actions for farmers and vendors 
            selling at a new farmers market in Colorado.
        
          

 
 
Ed 
Maltby
Northeast Organic 
Dairy Producers Alliance
Executive 
Director
30 Keets 
Rd
Deerfield, MA 
01342
Tel: 
413-772-0444
Cell: 
413-427-7323
Fax: 
866-554-9483
Website: www.nodpa.com or www.organicmilk.org  
NODPA 
Pasture Page
Join NODPA Facebook page
Sustainable base 
pay-price; level playing field; organic integrity
Thinking of transitioning to organic 
dairy?
Got questions on Organic 
Dairy?
Contact NODPA first and get the 
independent, unbiased facts.
 
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the NODPA is to enable organic dairy family farms, situated across an extensive 
area, to maintain the sustainability of organic dairy 
farming.
  		 	   		  
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