tom vilsack

On February 5, 2010, USDA announced a new, flexible framework for animal disease traceability in the United States. The Secretary of Agriculture and other USDA officials launched a widespread listening tour in 2010 to hear comments, concerns, and to discuss potential solutions to create a program producers can feel comfortable supporting.

USDA believes the traceability framework provides the basic tenets of an improved animal disease traceability capability. USDA continues to review and use comments and discussions collected during the listening tour to develop a flexible, coordinated approach for livestock moving interstate. The purpose of the draft proposed regulation for livestock moving interstate has always been to:

Yesterday, Secretary Vilsack and Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley hosted Maryland's fourth annual "Buy Local" cook out. The event kicked off Maryland's "Buy Local Challenge Week" which encourages Marylanders to incorporate at least one locally-grown, produced or harvested product into their meals each day.

At the U.S. Department of Agriculture, we are looking for new ways to help America’s producers succeed every single day. We want farmers and growers with operations of all sizes to be profitable and to make the decisions that are best for their land and their families.

We know that when agriculture is healthy and rural America is healthy, it helps support our nation as a whole.

That is why we have worked to help strengthen American agriculture by expanding markets for our goods and supporting innovation.

This past week, I had the chance to sit down with about 20 business leaders in central Illinois to hear their views on ways we can improve the nation’s economy, especially from the agriculture industry perspective.  The meeting was part of a series of outreach efforts across the country this summer to rural Americans as part of the White House Business Council and the White House Rural Council.

I want to thank Tim McArdle of Brandt Consolidated, Inc., who leads a successful agri-business in Springield, IL that helps farmers adopt new technologies for their operations.  We gathered representatives from many local businesses and had a frank and open discussion about the role of the Federal government in creating a business environment that encourages job growth and improves economic conditions in the agricultural sector and rural communities.

As chair of the recently established White House Rural Council, I want to make sure you take a look at a new web page that went live on the White House Champions of Change website.  It is focused on the meeting that was held at the White House on July 6, with President Obama, myself and 18 Rural Champions from across 14 states.  The new site features blogs and short video clips from participants about the meeting.  I hope that you’ll take a moment to check it out: http://www.whitehouse.gov/champions.

Our June Feds Feed Families totals are in, and I would like to give my USDA colleagues across the country a discreet, virtual high-five.

Today, Secretary Vilsack announced that USDA donated just over 100,000 pounds of food to the Feds Feed Families food drive during the month of June.  What a great start to the campaign! The National Office Feds Feed Families team continues to be inspired by the stories we are hearing from our counterparts in the field.

These past months have brought tough times for folks across the nation.  Unusual weather patterns – too much water in some places, not enough elsewhere – have driven thousands of Americans from their homes, and threatened their livelihoods.

Other families have seen their lives turned upside down by tornados or threatened by historic wildfires.

In these difficult times, my heart goes out to all of those who have been touched by these disasters.  And I want folks to know that at USDA – and across the federal government – we are we are doing our best to serve all those who have been affected.

Cross posted from the White House blog:

Last week, I met with 20 business leaders from all over Colorado at a White House Business Council roundtable in Denver.  It was an opportunity for me and my Colorado staff to get feedback on government programs, policies, and innovative ideas that are working to help create jobs – as well as ones that could be improved.  Other Cabinet officials and top White House staffers have hosted more than 100 of these sorts roundtables of around the country.  And over the coming weeks we will be holding these conversations in rural areas.

In Denver, I heard from business leaders who discussed the value of President Obama’s tax policies for businesses of all sizes, and appreciated the administrations is work to better partner with the business community.  We had a productive dialogue about how the pending trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia and Panama will benefit local agricultural producers, with the potential to create hundreds of jobs in Greeley, Colorado and other towns.  And we discussed how resorts might form partnerships on recreation to make better use of forests and other natural environments to help create jobs in communities throughout the Rocky Mountains.

This 4^th of July is a good time to celebrate the values and ideals that make this nation great.

Americans enjoy incredible freedoms and limitless opportunity.  We can say what we like, and worship how we believe.  This nation gives us the freedom and support we need to seek a good education, work hard, retire comfortably and achieve the American dream.

And even when the rhetoric from partisan politicians can seem angry or over-the-top, we have a system of government that holds honest elections and respects the will of voters.

Today, USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services launched a true first for our departments and our nation’s public health system. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service partnered with the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Ad Council to debut a joint, national, multimedia public service campaign called Food Safe Families to help Americans prevent food-related illnesses in their homes. With this campaign, we’re trying to shift the way people think about food handling so they can take a more proactive, preventive approach at home to help reduce food-related illnesses.