{"id":29996,"date":"2021-10-12T00:01:55","date_gmt":"2021-10-12T04:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=29996"},"modified":"2021-10-11T08:58:35","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T12:58:35","slug":"stop-ag-secretary-vilsack-from-undermining-climate-initiative-to-transition-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2021\/10\/stop-ag-secretary-vilsack-from-undermining-climate-initiative-to-transition-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Ag Secretary Vilsack from Undermining Climate Initiative to Transition Agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

(Beyond Pesticides,<\/em> October 12, 2021) Tell President Biden and Congress that there is no room for agriculture policies that are not in line with the Executive Memorandum and directive Modernizing Regulatory Review. USDA must remove all barriers to a national transition to organic agriculture.<\/a><\/p>\r\n

One of President Biden\u2019s first actions, on the day of his inauguration, was the Executive Memorandum and directive Modernizing Regulatory Review, requiring the heads of all executive departments and agencies to produce recommendations for improving and modernizing regulatory review, with a goal of promoting public health and safety, economic growth, social welfare, racial justice, environmental stewardship, human dignity, equity, and the interests of future generations. This mandate should reverse the trend of regulatory review, which has so far protected the status quo, rather than advancing urgently needed change.<\/p>\r\n

Why, then, do we see Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Tom Vilsack opposing moves in the direction laid out by the Presidential directive? A recent Mother Jones article by Tom Philpott focuses on Mr. Vilsack\u2019s opposition to the \u201cFarm to Fork\u201d initiative<\/a> in the European Union, which aims to \u201cpush the continent\u2019s agriculture in a healthier, more resilient direction, to reduce the use of toxic chemicals in farming, and encourage people to eat less meat.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

As Mr. Philpott points out, \u201cVilsack\u2019s disdain for the EU\u2019s plan\u2014which dates to last year when he worked as a dairy industry executive\u2014cannot arise from a sense of U.S. superiority. Our diet-related public health troubles are deeper than Europe\u2019s; and climate change and widespread water pollution are ravaging our two most important farming regions, California\u2019s Central Valley and the Midwestern corn belt.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Farm to Fork sets its sights on reducing reliance on polluting, energy-intensive agrochemicals by setting targets of reducing fertilizer use by 20% and pesticide use by 50% by 2030. It also calls for a 50% reduction in antibiotics in livestock\u2014a major contributor to antibiotic resistance\u2014and a reduction in red meat and processed food. These goals are eminently consistent with President Biden\u2019s goals as expressed in the Executive Memorandum. Is Secretary Vilsack out of step with his boss? Or is the directive just a whitewash concealing business as usual?<\/p>\r\n

Mr. Philpott believes that clues lie in Mr. Vilsack\u2019s friendship with leaders of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Brazil. UAE, with its large reserves of oil and natural gas, provides the raw material for synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, a driver for chemical-intensive agriculture, as well as the basis for pesticide manufacture. Brazil is the world\u2019s third-largest user of pesticides (after China and the U.S.), is home to meatpacking giants JBS and Marfig that supply U.S. markets and is known for its environmental and human rights abuses in transforming rainforests into industrial agriculture. UAE and Brazil may be ideal partners for promoting industrial agriculture, but their policies are antithetical to those advanced by the mandates issued by the president.<\/p>\r\n

We urgently need a new direction for agriculture\u2014one that moves toward organic agriculture and away from the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and abusive land practices. Mr. Vilsack should get with the president\u2019s agenda or get out!\u00a0
\r\n
\r\nTell President Biden and Congress that there is no room for agriculture policies that are not in line with the Executive Memorandum and directive Modernizing Regulatory Review. USDA must remove all barriers to a national transition to organic agriculture.<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Letter to President Biden<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

One of your first actions, on the day of your inauguration, was the Executive Memorandum and directive Modernizing Regulatory Review<\/em>, requiring the heads of all executive departments and agencies to produce recommendations for improving and modernizing regulatory review, with a goal of promoting public health and safety, economic growth, social welfare, racial justice, environmental stewardship, human dignity, equity, and the interests of future generations. This Executive Directive should reverse the trend of regulatory review, which has so far protected the status quo, rather than advancing urgently needed change.<\/p>\r\n

Why, then, do we see Secretary of the U.S Department of Agriculture Tom Vilsack opposing moves in the direction laid out by the Presidential directive? A recent Mother Jones<\/em> article by Tom Philpott focuses on Mr. Vilsack\u2019s opposition to the \u201cFarm to Fork\u201d initiative in the European Union, which aims to \u201cpush the continent\u2019s agriculture in a healthier, more resilient direction, to reduce the use of toxic chemicals in farming, and encourage people to eat less meat.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

As Mr. Philpott points out, \u201cVilsack\u2019s disdain for the EU\u2019s plan\u2014which dates to last year, when he worked as a dairy industry executive\u2014cannot arise from a sense of US superiority. Our diet-related public health troubles are deeper than Europe\u2019s; and climate change and widespread water pollution are ravaging our two most important farming regions, California\u2019s Central Valley and the Midwestern corn belt.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Farm to Fork sets its sights on reducing reliance on polluting, energy-intensive agrochemicals by setting targets of reducing fertilizer use by 20% and pesticide use by 50% by 2030. It also calls for a 50% reduction in antibiotics in livestock\u2014a major contributor to antibiotic resistance\u2014and a reduction in red meat and processed food. These goals are eminently consistent with your goals as expressed in the Executive Memorandum. Is Secretary Vilsack out of step with his boss? Or is the directive just a whitewash concealing business as usual?<\/p>\r\n

Mr. Philpott believes that clues lie in Mr. Vilsack\u2019s friendship with leaders of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Brazil. UAE, with its large reserves of oil and natural gas, provides the raw material for synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, a driver for chemical-intensive agriculture, as well as the basis for pesticide manufacture. Brazil is the world\u2019s third-largest user of pesticides (after China and the U.S.), is home to meatpacking giants JBS and Marfig that supply U.S. markets and is known for its environmental and human rights abuses in transforming rainforests into industrial agriculture. UAE and Brazil may be ideal partners for promoting industrial agriculture, but their policies are antithetical to those advanced by the mandates issued by the President.<\/p>\r\n

We urgently need a new direction for agriculture\u2014one that moves towards organic agriculture and away from the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and abusive land practices. Mr. Vilsack should get with the agenda or get out!<\/p>\r\n

Please insist that your Secretary of Agriculture moves USDA in the direction you set out in your Executive Memorandum, Modernizing Regulatory Review<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

Thank you.<\/p>\r\n

Letter to Congress<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

One of President Biden\u2019s first actions, on the day of his inauguration, was the Executive Memorandum and directive Modernizing Regulatory Review<\/em>, requiring the heads of all executive departments and agencies to produce recommendations for improving and modernizing regulatory review, with a goal of promoting public health and safety, economic growth, social welfare, racial justice, environmental stewardship, human dignity, equity, and the interests of future generations. This Executive Directive should reverse the trend of regulatory review, which has so far protected the status quo, rather than advancing urgently needed change.<\/p>\r\n

Why, then, do we see Secretary of the U.S Department of Agriculture Tom Vilsack opposing moves in the direction laid out by the Presidential directive? A recent Mother Jones<\/em> article by Tom Philpott focuses on Mr. Vilsack\u2019s opposition to the \u201cFarm to Fork\u201d initiative in the European Union, which aims to \u201cpush the continent\u2019s agriculture in a healthier, more resilient direction, to reduce the use of toxic chemicals in farming, and encourage people to eat less meat.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

As Mr. Philpott points out, \u201cVilsack\u2019s disdain for the EU\u2019s plan\u2014which dates to last year, when he worked as a dairy industry executive\u2014cannot arise from a sense of US superiority. Our diet-related public health troubles are deeper than Europe\u2019s; and climate change and widespread water pollution are ravaging our two most important farming regions, California\u2019s Central Valley and the Midwestern corn belt.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Farm to Fork sets its sights on reducing reliance on polluting, energy-intensive agrochemicals by setting targets of reducing fertilizer use by 20% and pesticide use by 50% by 2030. It also calls for a 50% reduction in antibiotics in livestock\u2014a major contributor to antibiotic resistance\u2014and a reduction in red meat and processed food. These goals are eminently consistent with President Bident\u2019s goals as expressed in the Executive Memorandum. Is Secretary Vilsack out of step with his boss? Or is the Executive Memorandum just a whitewash concealing business as usual?<\/p>\r\n

Mr. Philpott believes that clues lie in Mr. Vilsack\u2019s friendship with leaders of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Brazil. UAE, with its large reserves of oil and natural gas, provides the raw material for synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, a driver for chemical-intensive agriculture, as well as the basis for pesticide manufacture. Brazil is the world\u2019s third-largest user of pesticides (after China and the U.S.), is home to meatpacking giants JBS and Marfig that supply U.S. markets and is known for its environmental and human rights abuses in transforming rainforests into industrial agriculture. UAE and Brazil may be ideal partners for promoting industrial agriculture, but their policies are antithetical to those advanced by the mandates issued by the President.<\/p>\r\n

We urgently need a new direction for agriculture\u2014one that moves toward organic agriculture and away from the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and abusive land practices. Mr. Vilsack should get with the agenda or get out!<\/p>\r\n

Please insist that the Secretary of Agriculture moves USDA in the direction set out in the Presidential Executive Memorandum, Modernizing Regulatory Review<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

Thank you.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Beyond Pesticides, October 12, 2021) Tell President Biden and Congress that there is no room for agriculture policies that are not in line with the Executive Memorandum and directive Modernizing Regulatory Review. USDA must remove all barriers to a national transition to organic agriculture. One of President Biden\u2019s first actions, on the day of his inauguration, was the Executive Memorandum and directive Modernizing Regulatory Review, requiring the heads of all executive departments and agencies to produce recommendations for improving and modernizing regulatory review, with a goal of promoting public health and safety, economic growth, social welfare, racial justice, environmental stewardship, human dignity, equity, and the interests of future generations. This mandate should reverse the trend of regulatory review, which has so far protected the status quo, rather than advancing urgently needed change. Why, then, do we see Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Tom Vilsack opposing moves in the direction laid out by the Presidential directive? A recent Mother Jones article by Tom Philpott focuses on Mr. Vilsack\u2019s opposition to the \u201cFarm to Fork\u201d initiative in the European Union, which aims to \u201cpush the continent\u2019s agriculture in a healthier, more resilient direction, to reduce the use of toxic chemicals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[249,2,54,6,1,368],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-alternativesorganics","category-climate-change","category-international","category-uncategorized","category-us-department-of-agriculture-usda"],"yoast_head":"\nStop Ag Secretary Vilsack from Undermining Climate Initiative to Transition Agriculture - 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\/2021\/10\/stop-ag-secretary-vilsack-from-undermining-climate-initiative-to-transition-agriculture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stop Ag Secretary Vilsack from Undermining Climate Initiative to Transition Agriculture - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(Beyond Pesticides, October 12, 2021) Tell President Biden and Congress that there is no room for agriculture policies that are not in line with the Executive Memorandum and directive Modernizing Regulatory Review. 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USDA must remove all barriers to a national transition to organic agriculture. One of President Biden\u2019s first actions, on the day of his inauguration, was the Executive Memorandum and directive Modernizing Regulatory Review, requiring the heads of all executive departments and agencies to produce recommendations for improving and modernizing regulatory review, with a goal of promoting public health and safety, economic growth, social welfare, racial justice, environmental stewardship, human dignity, equity, and the interests of future generations. This mandate should reverse the trend of regulatory review, which has so far protected the status quo, rather than advancing urgently needed change. Why, then, do we see Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Tom Vilsack opposing moves in the direction laid out by the Presidential directive? A recent Mother Jones article by Tom Philpott focuses on Mr. Vilsack\u2019s opposition to the \u201cFarm to Fork\u201d initiative in the European Union, which aims to \u201cpush the continent\u2019s agriculture in a healthier, more resilient direction, to reduce the use of toxic chemicals […]","og_url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2021\/10\/stop-ag-secretary-vilsack-from-undermining-climate-initiative-to-transition-agriculture\/","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":"2021-10-12T04:01:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":320,"url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Climate.Vilsack.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Beyond Pesticides","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ByondPesticides","twitter_site":"@ByondPesticides","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Beyond Pesticides","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2021\/10\/stop-ag-secretary-vilsack-from-undermining-climate-initiative-to-transition-agriculture\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2021\/10\/stop-ag-secretary-vilsack-from-undermining-climate-initiative-to-transition-agriculture\/"},"author":{"name":"Beyond Pesticides","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#\/schema\/person\/1b5c0a0981b549cc5b628770073031f4"},"headline":"Stop Ag Secretary Vilsack from Undermining Climate Initiative to Transition Agriculture","datePublished":"2021-10-12T04:01:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2021\/10\/stop-ag-secretary-vilsack-from-undermining-climate-initiative-to-transition-agriculture\/"},"wordCount":1599,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2021\/10\/stop-ag-secretary-vilsack-from-undermining-climate-initiative-to-transition-agriculture\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Climate.Vilsack.jpg","articleSection":{"0":"Agriculture","1":"Alternatives\/Organics","2":"Climate Change","3":"International","5":"US Department of Agriculture (USDA)"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2021\/10\/stop-ag-secretary-vilsack-from-undermining-climate-initiative-to-transition-agriculture\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2021\/10\/stop-ag-secretary-vilsack-from-undermining-climate-initiative-to-transition-agriculture\/","url":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2021\/10\/stop-ag-secretary-vilsack-from-undermining-climate-initiative-to-transition-agriculture\/","name":"Stop Ag Secretary Vilsack from Undermining Climate Initiative to Transition Agriculture - 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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. 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