Guest Opinion: A Department of All Kinds of Agriculture

This year, legislators in Salem are considering a bill that would bring more Oregon grown, processed and manufactured products into the public school lunchroom.

Deborah J. Kane Courtesy: Amy Brown

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - As the new U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack will have many proverbial rows to hoe. At his recent senate confirmation hearing, he got a small taste of just how many.

Just after Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) voiced his support for organic agriculture, Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) offered a different perspective on how USDA should prioritize resources.

In a statement rife with stereotypes long attached to those who practice “alternative” agriculture, Roberts painted a picture of a 5 foot 2 inch retired airline pilot managing 40 organic acres who sits on his porch reading Gentleman’s Quarterly while his wife works as a stock broker downtown.

Roberts then compared this “family farmer” to what he viewed as a “production farmer” in Kansas with 10,000 acres, family members toiling at his side, and a tractor that cost upwards of $350,000. Roberts suggested production farmers were responsible for feeding America, and urged Vilsack not to forget about them. When drawing similar comparisons in other contexts, Roberts has been known to characterize his hypothetical production farmer as a towering 6 foot 2 inches in height.

The diminutive language made many family farm and organic agriculture advocates livid. I too was insulted. But, I must admit, I was also inclined to cut the guy some slack. I’ve heard equally incendiary remarks hurled the other way.

The problem is too few of us know agriculture well enough to generalize about its characteristics or its practitioners. When our principal exposure to agriculture is reduced to what we see on the grocery story shelves or at urban farmers’ markets, we can be lulled into believing we see the whole picture. Too often we don’t.

So how tall are the farmers in Oregon? The Oregon Department of Agriculture currently provides no height statistics, but I can tell you that our landscape is dotted with farms of varying sizes and production types. The vast majority (98%) are operated by families.

This year, legislators in Salem are considering a bill that would bring more Oregon grown, processed and manufactured products into the public school lunchroom. Known as the “farm to school” bill, some have already assumed the legislation is intended to help small family farmers load up pick up trucks and head to schools with lovingly harvested organic broccoli. It is.

The bill is also intended to support production agriculture in our state by making the school cafeteria a viable marketplace for all of Oregon agriculture. Farmers, ranchers, food processors and manufacturers of all shapes and sizes with products suitable for the lunchroom would stand to benefit from a state investment in school food. Indeed, this legislation would satisfy both Senator Leahy and Senator Roberts.

Some have suggested President Obama should create a “Department of Food,” so at Vilsack’s confirmation hearing Roberts took an opportunity to caution against what he called a “Department of Anything But Agriculture.” I say let’s create a “Department of All Kinds of Agriculture.” It takes work to build bridges of mutual understanding and respect in the agriculture community, but it’s worth doing. To do anything less would be shortsighted.

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Deborah J. Kane is vice president of food and farms at Ecotrust and a WK Kellogg Foundation Food & Society Policy Fellow.