Oh- I don't think anything on M-COOL is finalized yet...Remember in 4 days- a whole new administration moves into D.C.- and hopefully the direction returns toward the producers rather than the multinational corporations and importers..Remember Senator Obama was one of the 40 some Senators from both parties that signed on to a letter that told the USDA not to do what they did- and to write up the final rule the way Congress intended it to.....
Wed. night C-SPAN replayed Vilsacks confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Ag committee that was held that day.
During the whole hearing he talked little or none of the corporate farms or multinationals..He did talk of the importance of the family farms- and small producers...
I hope the impressions I got were right....He made numerous references to the importance of PRODUCERS at all levels-- from the 50 cow seedstock man- to the 100 cow "organic" direct marketer and the roadside vegetable/truck farm seller , to the 2,000+ acre wheat farmer in Kansas--as to the importance of them to agriculture-- but no word of the mulitnational corporations or Packer conglomerates- or importers....
He commented more than once about having been an attorney in Ag country and doing the taxes for producers- and how little producers actually bring in- in comparison to the cost that ends up to the consumer- and how US producers need to be given every opportunity and advantage to make a fair living....
This is the first Ag Secretary in years that I have heard talk of the PRODUCERS- and their importance-- and not all about the multinational corporates....
Vilsack will be easily confirmed- as I never heard any opposition from either party-- and nothing but praise...Some of the Repub Senators were sharing Minnesota/Iowa jokes with him...I think most of them too are tired of the fiasco of the Bush regimes rule of USDA--especially when they talked about the Administration not implementing the farm bill as Congress intended- after all their hard work and compromise....
He, to me, is still one of Obama's questionable picks- mainly because I know little about the man....It was quite clear that he intends to use Agriculture as an alternative fuel source- and clean air/enviro tool- which may not be good for the feeders relying on cheap grains for feeding out cattle- but could be a boon for grain producers and folks that have the genetics or position to grass fatten/fast finish their cattle...
Makes me thankful I stayed diversified-grain and cattle- and have headed toward the easier to finish genetics with cattle- rather than the old "bigger, better, faster high performance cattle pushed by the semen pimps and some of the big breeders the last few years...
One thing that became very apparent is the committee- both Repubs and Dems are very upset at the Bush Administration and its interpretation and implementation of the 2008 Farm Bill...It was brought up that the committee members spent too many hours working on compromises and wording--to just have the Bush crew/Schafer throw it all out and reinterpret/rewrite the law the way they want it...(Nothing new
)
Vilsack assured all the members that he would work with the committee to get the Farm Bill implemented the way Congress intended it to...
Altho I never heard him speak directly to M-COOL (I missed the first part of the hearing) I did hear him speak to such terms as "organic" and "all natural" and said he opposed letting the Packers/Factory Farm types water down the definition...
He commented that "he wanted to get back to
when USDA puts its stamp or label on a product- people can be assured that whatever the stamp/label says is exactly what they are getting--not a watered down version." 