{"id":28233,"date":"2020-11-16T00:01:41","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T04:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=28233"},"modified":"2020-11-16T12:09:16","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T16:09:16","slug":"tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/","title":{"rendered":"Tell President-elect Biden that We Need an Organic USDA"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p>(<em>Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, November 16, 2020) Since the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sits at the nexus of complex and systemic problems that need urgent attention\u2014pesticide-dependent genetically engineered crops, the integrity of certified organic agriculture, and the climate crisis\u2014the choice of the agency&#8217;s head is critical to meeting the challenges necessary to sustaining life.<\/p>\r\n<p>USDA has long been a big promoter of chemical-intensive agriculture. With President-elect Joe Biden committed to priorities of addressing health care, systemic racism, and climate change, <strong>the time is now for USDA to change the way it does business<\/strong>. We need an organic advocate in the Secretary of Agriculture, who must be committed to transitioning chemical-intensive agriculture to organic practices\u2014thereby eliminating petroleum-based pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, sequestering atmospheric carbon, protecting farmworker and farmer health, delivering a safe food supply, and ensuring clean air, water, and healthy terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.<\/p>\r\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/secure.everyaction.com\/9xZA4zPWO0m7iAvPbf4H4A2?emci=f3447dd5-2526-eb11-9fb4-00155d03affc&amp;emdi=ea000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&amp;ceid=##anchor\"><strong>Tell President-elect Biden to appoint an organic leader as USDA Secretary.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\r\n<p>The purview of USDA is far-ranging\u2014from SNAP (food stamps) to agricultural support programs to research to inspections and other regulations. And the National Organic Program. Research includes programs promoting pesticides and genetically engineered crops. USDA&#8217;s history with President-elect Biden&#8217;s priority issues has not been good historically. Promotion of chemical-intensive production hurts health as well as the environment and leads to increased climate change. Chemical-intensive agriculture is systemically racist\u2014disproportionately exposing black, indigenous, and people of color to hazardous chemicals from their production through use and disposal, while food deserts in low income neighborhoods offer low quality processed food contaminated with chemical residues.<\/p>\r\n<p>We need an organic leader at USDA\u2014a catalyst who will promote healthy organic food for all, as well as agricultural production practices that prevent climate change and environmental degradation.<\/p>\r\n<p>There are plenty of possibilities from which to choose:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Public officials include organic farmers like Congresswoman <a href=\"https:\/\/pingree.house.gov\/issues\/issue\/?IssueID=14894\">Chellie Pingree<\/a> (D-Maine), Senator <a href=\"https:\/\/www.agriculture.com\/farm-management\/qa-john-tester-us-senator-and-active-farmer\">Jon Tester <\/a>(D-Montana), and Lieutenant Governor <a href=\"https:\/\/ltgov.vermont.gov\/about-david-zuckerman\">David Zuckerman<\/a> (D-Vermont).\u00a0<\/li>\r\n\t<li>State Agriculture commissioners <a href=\"https:\/\/hightowerlowdown.org\/\">Jim Hightower <\/a>(Texas) and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youngfarmers.org\/2013\/02\/hello-from-the-nyfc-western-organizer\/\">Kate Greenberg<\/a> (D-Colorado). She worked on organic and regenerative farms and was a leader with the National Young Farmers Association.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Organic and regenerative farmers who have worked at USDA, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realorganicproject.org\/board-members\/standards-board\/standards-board-francis-thicke\/\">Francis Thicke, PhD<\/a>, who is an organic farmer and former National Organic Standards Board member and USDA National\u00a0Program\u00a0Leader for Soil Science, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2019\/10\/03\/766706906\/5-decades-later-communities-land-trust-still-helps-black-farmers\">Shirley Sherrod<\/a>, who was the Georgia State Director of Rural Development.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Organic and regenerative farmers and ranchers who, because of historic discrimination, have never been offered political appointments, but have proven themselves as leaders, include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.johnboydjr.com\/\">John Boyd<\/a>, founder of the National Black Farmers Association, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.riseandrootfarm.com\/karen-washington\">Karen Washington<\/a>, co-founder of Black Urban Growers, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welrp.org\/about-welrp\/about-our-founder\/\">Winona LaDuke<\/a>, founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, to name just a few.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/secure.everyaction.com\/9xZA4zPWO0m7iAvPbf4H4A2?emci=f3447dd5-2526-eb11-9fb4-00155d03affc&amp;emdi=ea000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&amp;ceid=##anchor\">Tell President-elect Biden to appoint an organic leader as USDA Secretary<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Letter to President-elect Biden\u2019s Agriculture Transition Team<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>I am writing to you because I am concerned that people\u2014like former Senator Heidi Heitkamp\u2014who have been suggested as the Secretary of Agriculture in the Biden administration will take us in the wrong direction and not meet the existential crises of the climate crisis and biodiversity devastation. We have a plethora of dedicated leaders to choose from who have exhibited a deep commitment to advancing organic agriculture\u2014thereby eliminating petroleum-based pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, sequestering atmospheric carbon, protecting farmworker and farmer health, delivering a safe food supply, and ensuring clean air, water, and healthy terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.<\/p>\r\n<p>The purview of USDA is far-ranging\u2014from SNAP (food stamps) to agricultural support programs to research to inspections and other regulations. And the National Organic Program. Research includes programs promoting pesticides and genetically engineered crops. USDA\u2019s history with the Biden priority issues has not been good in the past. Promotion of chemical-intensive production hurts health as well as the environment and leads to increased climate change. Chemical-intensive agriculture is systemically racist\u2014disproportionately exposing black, indigenous, and people of color to hazardous chemicals from their production through use and disposal, while food deserts in low income neighborhoods offer low quality processed food contaminated with chemical residues.<\/p>\r\n<p>We need an organic leader at USDA\u2014a catalyst who will promote organic food for all, as well as production that prevents climate change and environmental degradation.<\/p>\r\n<p>There are plenty of possibilities to choose from:<\/p>\r\n<p>*Public officials include organic farmers like Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Senator Jon Tester (D-Montana) and Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (D-Vermont).<\/p>\r\n<p>*State Agriculture commissioners Jim Hightower (Texas) and Kate Greenberg (D-Colorado). She worked on organic and regenerative farms and was a leader with the National Young Farmers Association.<\/p>\r\n<p>*Organic and regenerative farmers who have worked at USDA, including\u00a0 Francis Thicke, PhD, who was USDA\u2019s National Program Leader for Soil Science, and Shirley Sherrod, who was the Georgia State Director of Rural Development.<\/p>\r\n<p>*Organic and regenerative farmers and ranchers who, because of historic discrimination, have never been offered political appointments, but have proven themselves as leaders, include John Boyd, founder of the National Black Farmers Association, Karen Washington, co-founder of Black Urban Growers, and Winona LaDuke, founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, to name just a few.<\/p>\r\n<p>Please select an organic leader for Secretary of Agriculture, who must be committed to transitioning from chemical-intensive agriculture to organic practices\u2014thereby eliminating petroleum-based pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, sequestering atmospheric carbon, protecting farmworker and farmer health, delivering a safe food supply, and ensuring clean air, water, and healthy terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.<\/p>\r\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Beyond Pesticides, November 16, 2020) Since the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sits at the nexus of complex and systemic problems that need urgent attention\u2014pesticide-dependent genetically engineered crops, the integrity of certified organic agriculture, and the climate crisis\u2014the choice of the agency&#8217;s head is critical to meeting the challenges necessary to sustaining life. USDA has long been a big promoter of chemical-intensive agriculture. With President-elect Joe Biden committed to priorities of addressing health care, systemic racism, and climate change, the time is now for USDA to change the way it does business. We need an organic advocate in the Secretary of Agriculture, who must be committed to transitioning chemical-intensive agriculture to organic practices\u2014thereby eliminating petroleum-based pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, sequestering atmospheric carbon, protecting farmworker and farmer health, delivering a safe food supply, and ensuring clean air, water, and healthy terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Tell President-elect Biden to appoint an organic leader as USDA Secretary. The purview of USDA is far-ranging\u2014from SNAP (food stamps) to agricultural support programs to research to inspections and other regulations. And the National Organic Program. Research includes programs promoting pesticides and genetically engineered crops. USDA&#8217;s history with President-elect Biden&#8217;s priority issues has not been good historically. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[249,2,512,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-alternativesorganics","category-president-elect-transition","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Tell President-elect Biden that We Need an Organic USDA - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tell President-elect Biden that We Need an Organic USDA - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(Beyond Pesticides, November 16, 2020) Since the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sits at the nexus of complex and systemic problems that need urgent attention\u2014pesticide-dependent genetically engineered crops, the integrity of certified organic agriculture, and the climate crisis\u2014the choice of the agency&#8217;s head is critical to meeting the challenges necessary to sustaining life. USDA has long been a big promoter of chemical-intensive agriculture. With President-elect Joe Biden committed to priorities of addressing health care, systemic racism, and climate change, the time is now for USDA to change the way it does business. We need an organic advocate in the Secretary of Agriculture, who must be committed to transitioning chemical-intensive agriculture to organic practices\u2014thereby eliminating petroleum-based pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, sequestering atmospheric carbon, protecting farmworker and farmer health, delivering a safe food supply, and ensuring clean air, water, and healthy terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Tell President-elect Biden to appoint an organic leader as USDA Secretary. The purview of USDA is far-ranging\u2014from SNAP (food stamps) to agricultural support programs to research to inspections and other regulations. And the National Organic Program. Research includes programs promoting pesticides and genetically engineered crops. USDA&#8217;s history with President-elect Biden&#8217;s priority issues has not been good historically. [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-16T04:01:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-11-16T16:09:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DN-image2-Biden-organic-USDA.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beyond Pesticides\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ByondPesticides\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ByondPesticides\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Beyond Pesticides\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4\"},\"headline\":\"Tell President-elect Biden that We Need an Organic USDA\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-16T04:01:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-16T16:09:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/\"},\"wordCount\":911,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DN-image2-Biden-organic-USDA.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Agriculture\",\"Alternatives\/Organics\",\"President-elect Transition\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/\",\"name\":\"Tell President-elect Biden that We Need an Organic USDA - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DN-image2-Biden-organic-USDA.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-16T04:01:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-11-16T16:09:16+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DN-image2-Biden-organic-USDA.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DN-image2-Biden-organic-USDA.png\",\"width\":640,\"height\":300},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tell President-elect Biden that We Need an Organic USDA\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/\",\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\",\"description\":\"News on Pesticide Science, Policy and Activism\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BeyondPesticides-Logo-Stacked-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BeyondPesticides-Logo-Stacked-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":2501,\"caption\":\"Beyond Pesticides\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/?hl=en\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4\",\"name\":\"Beyond Pesticides\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26b7558fcb265e244c6e159abe5f0aab551822dc82fd0b1607e809bdfbed20a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26b7558fcb265e244c6e159abe5f0aab551822dc82fd0b1607e809bdfbed20a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Beyond Pesticides\"},\"description\":\"Beyond Pesticides is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., which works with allies in protecting public health and the environment to lead the transition to a world free of toxic pesticides. The founders, who established Beyond Pesticides (originally as National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides) as a nonprofit membership organization in 1981, felt that without the existence of such an organized, national network, local, state and national pesticide policy would become, under chemical industry pressure, increasingly unresponsive to public health and environmental concerns. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions that affect them directly. We believe decisions should not be made for us by chemical companies or by decision-makers who either do not have all of the facts or refuse to consider them. Learn more about our work, read A Year in Review\u20142021, our accomplishments are your victories! Beyond Pesticides seeks to protect healthy air, water, land, and food for ourselves and future generations. By forging ties with governments, nonprofits, and people who rely on these natural resources, we reduce the need for unnecessary pesticide use and protect public health and the environment. Beyond Pesticides provides hands-on services to the public and supports local action by: identifying and interpreting hazards; and, designing safe pest management programs. With the information provided by Beyond Pesticides, people may not only be able to make informed choices and adopt practices that protect themselves and their families from unnecessary exposure to pesticides, but they will be able to effect changes on community-wide pest management decisions and policies that govern pesticide use, such as pesticide uses in parks, schools, for community insect control and along roadsides. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions which affect them directly.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/author\/beyond-pesticides\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tell President-elect Biden that We Need an Organic USDA - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tell President-elect Biden that We Need an Organic USDA - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","og_description":"(Beyond Pesticides, November 16, 2020) Since the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sits at the nexus of complex and systemic problems that need urgent attention\u2014pesticide-dependent genetically engineered crops, the integrity of certified organic agriculture, and the climate crisis\u2014the choice of the agency&#8217;s head is critical to meeting the challenges necessary to sustaining life. USDA has long been a big promoter of chemical-intensive agriculture. With President-elect Joe Biden committed to priorities of addressing health care, systemic racism, and climate change, the time is now for USDA to change the way it does business. We need an organic advocate in the Secretary of Agriculture, who must be committed to transitioning chemical-intensive agriculture to organic practices\u2014thereby eliminating petroleum-based pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, sequestering atmospheric carbon, protecting farmworker and farmer health, delivering a safe food supply, and ensuring clean air, water, and healthy terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Tell President-elect Biden to appoint an organic leader as USDA Secretary. The purview of USDA is far-ranging\u2014from SNAP (food stamps) to agricultural support programs to research to inspections and other regulations. And the National Organic Program. Research includes programs promoting pesticides and genetically engineered crops. USDA&#8217;s history with President-elect Biden&#8217;s priority issues has not been good historically. [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/","og_site_name":"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/","article_published_time":"2020-11-16T04:01:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-11-16T16:09:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":300,"url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DN-image2-Biden-organic-USDA.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Beyond Pesticides","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ByondPesticides","twitter_site":"@ByondPesticides","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Beyond Pesticides","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/"},"author":{"name":"Beyond Pesticides","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4"},"headline":"Tell President-elect Biden that We Need an Organic USDA","datePublished":"2020-11-16T04:01:41+00:00","dateModified":"2020-11-16T16:09:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/"},"wordCount":911,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DN-image2-Biden-organic-USDA.png","articleSection":["Agriculture","Alternatives\/Organics","President-elect Transition"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/","name":"Tell President-elect Biden that We Need an Organic USDA - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DN-image2-Biden-organic-USDA.png","datePublished":"2020-11-16T04:01:41+00:00","dateModified":"2020-11-16T16:09:16+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DN-image2-Biden-organic-USDA.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/DN-image2-Biden-organic-USDA.png","width":640,"height":300},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/11\/tell-president-elect-biden-that-we-need-an-organic-usda\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tell President-elect Biden that We Need an Organic USDA"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/","name":"Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog","description":"News on Pesticide Science, Policy and Activism","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization","name":"Beyond Pesticides","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BeyondPesticides-Logo-Stacked-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/BeyondPesticides-Logo-Stacked-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":2501,"caption":"Beyond Pesticides"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides","https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/?hl=en","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4","name":"Beyond Pesticides","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26b7558fcb265e244c6e159abe5f0aab551822dc82fd0b1607e809bdfbed20a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26b7558fcb265e244c6e159abe5f0aab551822dc82fd0b1607e809bdfbed20a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Beyond Pesticides"},"description":"Beyond Pesticides is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., which works with allies in protecting public health and the environment to lead the transition to a world free of toxic pesticides. The founders, who established Beyond Pesticides (originally as National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides) as a nonprofit membership organization in 1981, felt that without the existence of such an organized, national network, local, state and national pesticide policy would become, under chemical industry pressure, increasingly unresponsive to public health and environmental concerns. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions that affect them directly. We believe decisions should not be made for us by chemical companies or by decision-makers who either do not have all of the facts or refuse to consider them. Learn more about our work, read A Year in Review\u20142021, our accomplishments are your victories! Beyond Pesticides seeks to protect healthy air, water, land, and food for ourselves and future generations. By forging ties with governments, nonprofits, and people who rely on these natural resources, we reduce the need for unnecessary pesticide use and protect public health and the environment. Beyond Pesticides provides hands-on services to the public and supports local action by: identifying and interpreting hazards; and, designing safe pest management programs. With the information provided by Beyond Pesticides, people may not only be able to make informed choices and adopt practices that protect themselves and their families from unnecessary exposure to pesticides, but they will be able to effect changes on community-wide pest management decisions and policies that govern pesticide use, such as pesticide uses in parks, schools, for community insect control and along roadsides. Beyond Pesticides believes that people must have a voice in decisions which affect them directly.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/beyondpesticides\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beyondpesticides\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/beyond-pesticides\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ByondPesticides","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/bpncamp\/"],"url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/author\/beyond-pesticides\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28233"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28242,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28233\/revisions\/28242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}