President Obama has nominated Kathleen Merrigan for deputy secretary of agriculture, the number two post at the Department of Agriculture. Merrigan, an assistant professor and the Director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment Program at Tufts University, helped develop the USDA’s rules on organic food during the Clinton administration.

Merrigan has been hailed by sustainable agriculture advocates, like the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition; however, Senate Republicans are concerned with her organic ties.

Last week during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee, Merrigan defended her agricultural record:

I see (deputy secretary) as a great opportunity to represent all kinds of agriculture. Organic is a small slice of the pie. I’ve always been a provocateur. That’s part of my personality.

Senator Saxby Chambliss, the leading Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, expressed his concerns with Merrigan’s organic associations:

I do have some concerns that in promoting your passion for organic production and sustainable agriculture that you tear down other types of agricultural production for those with different points of view. Please keep a special place in your heart for organic production … but also other types of productions which give farmers more options.

In 2006, Chambliss raised $287,000 from the farm sector.

Obama’s nominee shows his commitment to sustainable agriculture; Senate Republican concerns show their commitment to corporate agribusiness. Consider the farm lobby’s efforts to maintain subsidies, which total $13 billion dollars a year. Bread of the World reports:

The 2002 farm bill tab was one of the most expensive ever, with a yearly payout that roughly totaled what the federal government appropriates annually for the Education Department. Today, farmers make up less than 1% of the U.S. population, and agriculture production is dominated by large, industrial farms that have annual sales of $1 million or more. In 2006, average farm household income was $77,654, or about 17% more than average U.S. household income, according to the Department of Agriculture. Average farm household income is expected to be about $90,000 this year. Current law allows subsidies to farmers with annual adjusted gross income of as much as $2.5 million.

In fact, farm subsidies have been dubbed the “largest corporate welfare program“. Farm subsidies are designed for agribusiness, and that is what worries Senate Republicans with Merrigan’s nomination. Senator Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, has expressed his support of Merrigan:

She has demonstrated a commitment to the needs of agriculture and rural communities, promoting sound conservation and the benefits of healthy foods and good nutrition.

Isn’t that what we want from the USDA: Nutrition and conservation over corporate handouts to agribusiness?

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