Sustainable Food Policy to Come?

(via Ezra Klein) For me, Vilsack was the cabinet pick I was least excited about. Because a lot needs to be done on the food policy side, the last thing we need was an Iowa Ag-Interest guy running the department. Well, rumors of who he might hire on offers a lot of hope.

But what really has sustainable agriculture advocates in a tizzy are the rumors that Vilsack might pick Chuck Hassebrook, currently the director of the Center for Rural Affairs, as the number two guy at the USDA. Aside from the fact that he would be the highest ranking progressive food figure in government since, well, ever, the significance lies in the importance of the Deputy Secretary of Agriculture (his potential new gig). Deputy Secretaries are the operational folks - the people who actually run the departments (a COO to the Secretary's CEO). So Hassebrook, if appointed, would represent far more than a bone tossed to the sustainable ag community. He'd be more like the camel's nose. Their excitement is therefore understandable.

Vilsack has already whet the appetite of food reformers in the choice for his own chief of staff. Via Obamafoodorama, we learn that Vilsack's pick, John Norris, is a former farm activist (and former chair of Iowa's Utilities Board) and beloved by the Iowa sustainable ag community. And, get this, Norris' wife is chief of staff to the First Lady. Pillow talk, indeed. Feel free, by the way, to raise eyebrows at the growing influence of Iowa in our national affairs. But, then, that caucus happened which did kinda sorta help Obama win the nomination. So I guess we'll just have to live with it.