USDA chief: Rural America becoming less relevant
WASHINGTON (AP) - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has some harsh words for rural America: It's "becoming less and less relevant," he says.
A month after an election that Democrats won even as rural parts of the country voted overwhelmingly Republican, the former Democratic governor of Iowa told farm belt leaders this past week that he's frustrated with their internecine squabbles and says they need to be more strategic in picking their political fights.
"It's time for us to have an adult conversation with folks in rural America," Vilsack said in a speech at a forum sponsored by the Farm Journal. "It's time for a different thought process here, in my view."
He said rural America's biggest assets - the food supply, recreational areas and energy, for example - can be overlooked by people elsewhere as the U.S. population shifts more to cities, their suburbs and exurbs.
"Why is it that we don't have a farm bill?" said Vilsack. "It isn't just the differences of policy. It's the fact that rural America with a shrinking population is becoming less and less relevant to the politics of this country, and we had better recognize that and we better begin to reverse it."
For the first time in recent memory, farm-state lawmakers were not able to push a farm bill through Congress in an election year, evidence of lost clout in farm states.
The Agriculture Department says about 50 percent of rural counties have lost population in the past four years and poverty rates are higher there than in metropolitan areas, despite the booming agricultural economy.
Exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks found that rural voters accounted for just 14 percent of the turnout in last month's election, with 61 percent of them supporting Republican Mitt Romney and 37 percent backing President Barack Obama. Two-thirds of those rural voters said the government is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals.
Vilsack criticized farmers who have embraced wedge issues such as regulation, citing the uproar over the idea that the Environmental Protection Agency was going to start regulating farm dust after the Obama administration said repeatedly it had no so such intention.
In his Washington speech, he also cited criticism of a proposed Labor Department regulation, later dropped, that was intended to keep younger children away from the most dangerous farm jobs, and criticism of egg producers for dealing with the Humane Society on increasing the space that hens have in their coops. Livestock producers fearing they will be the next target of animal rights advocates have tried to undo that agreement.
"We need a proactive message, not a reactive message," Vilsack said. "How are you going to encourage young people to want to be involved in rural America or farming if you don't have a proactive message? Because you are competing against the world now."
John Weber, a pork producer in Dysart, Iowa, said Friday that farmers have to defend their industries against policies they see as unfair. He said there is great concern among pork producers that animal welfare groups are using unfair tactics and may hurt their business.
"Our role is to defend our producers and our industry in what we feel are issues important to us," he said.
Weber agreed, though, that rural America is declining in influence. He said he is concerned that there are not enough lawmakers from rural areas and complained that Congress doesn't understand farm issues. He added that the farm industry needs to communicate better with consumers.
"There's a huge communication gap" between farmers and the food-eating public, he said.
Vilsack, who has made the revitalization of rural America a priority, encouraged farmers to embrace new kinds of markets, work to promote global exports and replace a "preservation mindset with a growth mindset." He said they also need to embrace diversity because it is an issue important to young people who are leaving rural areas.
"We've got something to market here," he said. "We've got something to be proactive about. Let's spend our time and our resources and our energy doing that and I think if we do we're going to have a lot of young people who want to be part of that future."
A month after an election that Democrats won even as rural parts of the country voted overwhelmingly Republican, the former Democratic governor of Iowa told farm belt leaders this past week that he's frustrated with their internecine squabbles and says they need to be more strategic in picking their political fights.
"It's time for us to have an adult conversation with folks in rural America," Vilsack said in a speech at a forum sponsored by the Farm Journal. "It's time for a different thought process here, in my view."
He said rural America's biggest assets - the food supply, recreational areas and energy, for example - can be overlooked by people elsewhere as the U.S. population shifts more to cities, their suburbs and exurbs.
"Why is it that we don't have a farm bill?" said Vilsack. "It isn't just the differences of policy. It's the fact that rural America with a shrinking population is becoming less and less relevant to the politics of this country, and we had better recognize that and we better begin to reverse it."
For the first time in recent memory, farm-state lawmakers were not able to push a farm bill through Congress in an election year, evidence of lost clout in farm states.
The Agriculture Department says about 50 percent of rural counties have lost population in the past four years and poverty rates are higher there than in metropolitan areas, despite the booming agricultural economy.
Exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks found that rural voters accounted for just 14 percent of the turnout in last month's election, with 61 percent of them supporting Republican Mitt Romney and 37 percent backing President Barack Obama. Two-thirds of those rural voters said the government is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals.
Vilsack criticized farmers who have embraced wedge issues such as regulation, citing the uproar over the idea that the Environmental Protection Agency was going to start regulating farm dust after the Obama administration said repeatedly it had no so such intention.
In his Washington speech, he also cited criticism of a proposed Labor Department regulation, later dropped, that was intended to keep younger children away from the most dangerous farm jobs, and criticism of egg producers for dealing with the Humane Society on increasing the space that hens have in their coops. Livestock producers fearing they will be the next target of animal rights advocates have tried to undo that agreement.
"We need a proactive message, not a reactive message," Vilsack said. "How are you going to encourage young people to want to be involved in rural America or farming if you don't have a proactive message? Because you are competing against the world now."
John Weber, a pork producer in Dysart, Iowa, said Friday that farmers have to defend their industries against policies they see as unfair. He said there is great concern among pork producers that animal welfare groups are using unfair tactics and may hurt their business.
"Our role is to defend our producers and our industry in what we feel are issues important to us," he said.
Weber agreed, though, that rural America is declining in influence. He said he is concerned that there are not enough lawmakers from rural areas and complained that Congress doesn't understand farm issues. He added that the farm industry needs to communicate better with consumers.
"There's a huge communication gap" between farmers and the food-eating public, he said.
Vilsack, who has made the revitalization of rural America a priority, encouraged farmers to embrace new kinds of markets, work to promote global exports and replace a "preservation mindset with a growth mindset." He said they also need to embrace diversity because it is an issue important to young people who are leaving rural areas.
"We've got something to market here," he said. "We've got something to be proactive about. Let's spend our time and our resources and our energy doing that and I think if we do we're going to have a lot of young people who want to be part of that future."
People are moving out of rural America for many reasons. Cost of fuel to commute. Job availabilty for skilled laborers. Property values are lower but you must buy more property to build on than allowed in the city, so you must spend more.  The "do-it-myself" ability of the rural tenant tends to curb opportunities for plumbers, electricians and framers. The farm hand of days gone by has evolved from the good old boy or hard working high school kid, to undependable vagrants and substance abusers. When that stopped working our little hard-working brownskinned brothers from the south came in and provided labor. The down side? Which way will he vote? How many kids did he bring into the local schools? It is an evolving world and all of things will continue to change. We do need to get over this attitude that the government will fix everything. This country is 240 years old and in that time we have become the richest country in the world and most of our "poverty" labelled folks have it pretty darn good compared to the international scene.  The message to rural America by the POTUS is clear. Get in step, or go without.Â
Spending some time in rural America would do wonders for this full of himself preaching socialist.
Funny, sir - I keep dreaming about the day I can escape from Portland's socialist OVERTAXED imprisonment - and move to rural America.Â
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Funny how that goes - sick and tired of Obama mouthpieces telling me anything. Preaching to me and mine. Declaring themselves "experts" about anything. If I could relocate to rural America tomorrow I would . Trust me when I stated that, sir - as far away from arrogant hypocrites like you, Mr. USDA/Obama appointee.Â
These "wedge issues" are part of what the rabid right-wing talking heads (that would be rush, beck, hannity, and so on) use to inflame their "base", and their "base" either lacks the interest, the time, or the education to realize that they're being manipulated by very sophisticated propagandists. Waving the bloody shirt is a tried and true technique for rabble rousing, and the right has honed it to perfection.
@Old29 ....."rabid". "Inflame" manipulated" "bloody" Your anger is consuming you.
I was at the farmers market at PSU today. What an abundance of great food, from meat to soup to nuts. And lots of eager buyers. Americans want good food, but the market system is just completely broken and distorted. The reason rural America is becoming irrelevant is that all the food is controlled by mega-corporations and chemical factories that care less about anything but capturing more dollars. The small growers get screwed; and the consumer gets artificial cheap junk labeled as food. We need to build better ways to get food from farms to people without making Monsanto and the Walton's more billions in the process.
Artificial cheap junk? Check the grocerie shelves in other countries. Not all farms are corporate and many of the processors are not mega-corporate. Small processors are hired to put corporate labels on the product by the corporation that will market the product. They set high standards because they own the product name and want consumer trust. There are many players here and farmers may have opportunity to pick and choose to whom they sell, and some even market thier own products as a start-up, on the side.Â
Oh really? This is how the government feels?? Less relevant?? I'll tell you what's less relevant .......bureaucrats, life long government employees, the congress and a president that would tolerate this kind of attitude in his administration.
@Rob C 503 Rob, try reading the article, not just the headline.
@john ........don't tell me what to "try". I read it. Agriculture is difficult and complex. Less relevant? To whom?
"Food, Inc."Â -- A must see movie for every food-eating American.
 @badcat Food Inc changed my life, I buy as much as I can local and organic now. Food Inc showed pink slime before most people knew what pink slime was.Â
definitely an issue as I'm seeing more and more food products with labels indicating that they were grown OUTSIDE the USA. Think about that people: look at where the food you buy comes from, then, buy American grown food.
Why? So you can have lots of GMOs, pesticides, hormones and antibiotic laced "nutrition"? It's also December and kind of hard to come by an avacado from California.  Unless you're into canning your own food, South American is the only winter option.