By J. Larry Miller
It is obvious that the public opinion of farmers is changing but to have the Secretary of Agriculture make negative comments about rural America tells me that we need a new department leader in Washington. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has some harsh words for rural America: It’s “becoming less and less relevant,” he says.
A month after an election that Democrats won even as rural parts of the country voted overwhelmingly Republican, the former Democratic governor of Iowa told farm belt leaders this past week that he’s frustrated with their internecine squabbles and says they need to be more strategic in picking their political fights. “It’s time for us to have an adult conversation with folks in rural America,” Vilsack said in a speech at a forum sponsored by the Farm Journal. “It’s time for a different thought process here, in my view.”
“Why is it that we don’t have a farm bill?” said Vilsack. “It isn’t just the differences of policy. It’s the fact that rural America with a shrinking population is becoming less and less relevant to the politics of this country, and we had better recognize that and we better begin to reverse it.”
Vilsack criticized farmers who have embraced wedge issues such as regulation, citing the uproar over the idea that the Environmental Protection Agency was going to start regulating farm dust after the Obama administration said repeatedly it had no so such intention.
In his Washington speech, he also cited criticism of a proposed Labor Department regulation, later dropped, that was intended to keep younger children away from the most dangerous farm jobs, and criticism of egg producers for dealing with the Humane Society on increasing the space that hens have in their coops. Livestock producers fearing they will be the next target of animal rights advocates have tried to undo that agreement.
“We need a proactive message, not a reactive message,” Vilsack said. “How are you going to encourage young people to want to be involved in rural America or farming if you don’t have a proactive message?”
There is no doubt that farm groups need to be proactive but we must defend our industry against the very things that the Secretary mentioned as frivolous. Regulating dust from combines and animal rights issues are basic to our survival.
What we need is a Secretary of Agriculture that will fight for farmers and is concerned about a safe and abundant supply of food. We may be shrinking in numbers but our value needs to be defended by a pro-farmer Secretary of Agriculture rather than a laid-off politician from the Midwest that needs a job until retirement.
Remember we are farmers working together. If we can help let us know.
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