Enough with the first 100 days of President Obama. What about the first 100 days of Vilsack? Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa Governor, took over the Agriculture Department, much to the chagrin of environmentalists and foodies, who saw him as a shill for big ag. But Philip Brasher, writing in the Des Moines Register, tells that in his first 100 days "Vilsack has surprised his early detractors, who feared he would be too close to agribusiness."

How's that? Well, Vilsack started an organic veggie garden in front of the Ag Department building. (And worked with Michelle Obama to break some ground at the White House, above.) He appointed Kathleen Merrigan (who helped create the national program for certifying organic food) as deputy secretary. He also proposed a cut in subsidies, saying the money was needed to feed hungry children. At the same time, Vilsack has pushed the government to increase the use of corn ethanol in gasoline. "He has a much broader understanding of agriculture and food systems than I think some of his critics had expected," Ben Lilliston of the Institute for Agriculture and Food Policy told Brasher. 

"To me it isn't about either-or," Vilsack told Brasher. "It's about how do you figure out ways for folks to co-exist and how do you figure how to take the best of all of it and move an agenda forward that repopulates the rural community, that focuses on good stewardship, on sustainability, on getting the most of our resources." 

The fight over NAIS (the National Animal Identification System) continues to boil (over), both in Washington, D.C. and out in the states. (See Yonder articles on NAIS here and here.)  NAIS would require livestock owners (chickens, hogs, cattle, horses) to tag every animal so that they can be traced. The US Department of Agriculture  would like to make this program mandatory, so that sick animals can be easily traced. NAIS has been less than warmly received in rural communities — an understatement if there ever was one.

USDA has had a voluntary NAIS system in place that has had less than overwhelming response from livestock owners, especially among cattlemen and women. Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill has written Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack saying that as the "number two calf-cow state in the nation, Missouri cannot afford for USDA to go forward with an unproven program." McCaskill points out that it would cost $16 a head for small cattle raisers to join the NAIS program. In mid-April,  Vilsack held a roundtable to discuss NAIS. 

The criticism continues. R-CALF USA has urged "Congress and USDA to immediately and completely abandon the flawed National Animal Identification System." R-CALF (a cattle raisers group) has produced a long list of alternatives to NAIS. Vilsack says he will conduct "listening" session across the country. He's going to get an earful. 

The collapse of the chicken market nationally is creating economic turmoil in much of the rural South, where farmers have invested heavily in chicken houses. David Zucchino of the Los Angeles Times reports from Silar City, North Carolina, "The worst recession in decades has hammered all types of businesses across the country, farming included. But among the hardest hit are contract chicken farmers in the South and especially in North Carolina, the nation's second-leading poultry producer, where it is a $3.3-billion industry." 

Thousands of farmers invested millions of dollars in chicken houses and equipment. They signed contracts with large processors — Tyson's, Pilgrim's Pride — and earned a small percentage on their investment for raising chicks. When demand for chicken dropped, the chicken processors began cutting back. Pilgrim's filed for bankruptcy. In six central North Carolina counties, Zucchino reports, 44 farmers (who owe at least $18 million to banks on their chicken house investments) lost their contracts with Pilgrim's. Nationally, 900 chicken farmers have lost contracts since last fall.

Zucchino visits with chicken farmer Andrew Meeks, who lost his contract with Pilgrim's and has put his farm up for sale. (There are no lookers.) "All I ever aspired to be was a farmer. Chicken farming is a good life," he said, sitting in his frame house at dusk, gazing out at this three forlorn chicken houses. "Now I don't know what I'll do. I have no idea."

President Obama is getting no love from farm state Democrats. Obama has proposed capping payments to farmers who gross more than $500,000 in farm income — a change that would require Congress to re-open the farm bill. House Ag Chairman Collin Peterson has been traveling about the country telling folks this proposal is DOA. "That was a laughable proposal that hadn't been thought out obviously and it makes no sense, so that is not going any place," Peterson is saying. 

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, one of the President's earliest and strongest swing state supporters, has whipped off a letter to USDA Secretary Vilsack saying she is not all that happy with the $500,000 limit. "I urge caution before agreements made in the Farm Bill are overturned and altered," McCaskill wrote. Meanwhile, Daryll Ray, at the University of Tennessee, explains that a cap based on gross income (instead of profits or losses) makes absolutely no sense. 

As for the current state of ag policy, well, the White House is putting in quite a large garden (above) Friday — as well as two hives of bees — a recommendation made by foodies such as writer Michael Pollan (who calls the garden "one of those small gestures that is powerfully symbolic").