Time to Celebrate

As some of you might know, this year marked Former President Lincoln's 200th birthday. In honor of that and Earth Day the Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack took back part of the pavement by creating a People's Garden in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed area.

" Lincoln founded the Department of Agriculture in 1862 and referred to it as "The People's Department" in his last annual message to Congress. "

The purpose of the People's Garden is to eliminate unnecessary paved surfaces and return to the grassy landscapes of our past.

To read more about the People's Garden please click link below:

ReleaseNo.0042.09

Stakeholders- yum

Mark your meat, in an effort to make sure what is mine is mine and what is yours is yours the government has been working on animal identification system . Really this system is to make sure the that cattle grazing is not only kept in the right area but also in good health. The idea is that the infected animal can be taken from its herd or flock immediately without further spread of the disease to the other animals.
"In 2004, APHIS began implementing NAIS, an animal traceability system that would enable producers and animal health officials to respond quickly and effectively to animal disease events in the United States."
As with anything in the past year cost is always a worry. Organic farmers are also crying out, they feel that it threatens the traditional freedom of self sufficiency, the privacy of Americans, and the livelihood their lively hood.
To read this release please click link below:
ReleaseNo.0108.09
To read about the worries of the organic farmers please click link below:
SurvivalBlog

There's No Such Thing As Bad Press

So the saying goes, yet when I was looking at the USDA site today I noticed the press release I had blogged about two days ago was gone. I went further to try and look it up other ways but was unsuccessful.
When I had read the release I thought it seemed a little strange, the information given did not seemed fully researched and it almost felt like the USDA was jumping the gun on something that could really effect their agency as well as the Food and Nutation Agency at such a bad economic time.
President Obama has stated that health care is a very important thing to him and we know that the best thing we can do for ourselves is to try and keep in shape. This of course means exercising and eating the right foods. History has shown us that participants in food stamp programs do not always make the right choices about their dietary needs. Will WIC have to monitor their program more carefully. Will they have to get more involved with family choices? With the possibilities of cuts happening to all different kinds of government agencies maybe there is such a thing as bad press.
I have emailed the USDA webmaster about why the post has been taken down, I wonder if I will get a response back.

Women and Children First!

With obesity being one of the biggest battles in America the Food and Nutrition Service of the USDA are worried about how their WIC program is affecting American health. The WIC program provides Federal grants to States for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk.

A new report has found the 49% of infants born in the United States are part of the WIC program. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has stated that over one in five young children, ages 2 to 5, are at risk of being overweight-and their numbers have grown in the past two decades.

It seems from this press release that the main fear is this program is not being monitored correctly and has put the participants of WIC at risk. This release seems a bit confusing- offering research about how the WIC participants are obese but also stating that it is not related to the program. Is WIC not about getting the proper nutrition to families in need? Maybe there should be better monitoring of this program.

Please refer the the link below for the full press release.

ReleaseNo.0111.09

Dollar Menu

Do you remember awhile back a mother sued McDonald's for her child being overweight. She said that due to her economic status and McDonald's Dollar menu there was no way for her son to avoid obesity. When I had heard this story all I could think was that she was crazy its not McDonald that has caused her child's weight problem its her, but upon further thought I realized its not her its all of us.

While we all learn about the food pyramid in school and how eating right and exercise will lead to a long and healthy life today's culture has lead us far from that. When people who can barely afford the roof over their heads look for ways to cut back the Dollar Menu seems like a great way to do that. So why might you ask am I writing about a story that happened close to six years ago- well on April 1st (please do not let this be an April Fool's joke!) The USDA released a statement addressing hunger in America "President Obama and I (Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack) are committed to ending hunger in America and this increased funding will provide additional nutrition assistance to millions of low-income individuals and families,".

Though fast food is apart of our culture hopeful this will help families afford to keep their kids away from the Dollar Menus and have a healthier life style.

To read the rest of the press release from the USDA please use this link ReleaseNo.0087.09

Red River Problems

As things get worse in North Dakota the USDA is trying to help out. As I have stated in a past post the USDA does not only care about plants and animals, they are concerned with human life as well. This link:ReleaseNo.0069.09 states the actions in which the USDA plan to help out the people of North Dakota in this terrible time.

Buzz Buzz Spring is here

With Spring here I started thinking about last years problems with the honey bees. Last spring when it was discovered that many of the honey bees that help pollinate our food and food for the animals where missing there was major outrage and questions. This phenomena called CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) was thought to be caused by poisons like pesticides killing off the bees, one rumor I heard was that cell phone signals screwed up the bees flight patterns and they couldn't find their way back to the hive.

The plight of the bees even got the attention of comedian Bill Maher and during his HBO program he quoted Einstein saying "if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination. No more plants. No more animals. No more man."Anyway after all of this I decided that I can do something and from spring till summer I turned my cell phone off from dawn to dusk - which where during the hours I was working so anyone who needed to reach me could just call me at work and everyone else could leave a message. This time was prime honeybee flying time. I also went out and researched plants that honey bees like. I found that daises, tulips, marigolds mostly its the bright colored flowers that the honey bees are drawn too.

So with spring upon us again I started searching the USDA site for any information about our flying friends. I am sorry to say that the information I found on the site was all dated from last year or the year before even. From what I did find there has not been an answer to this major problem yet. Here is one article I found on the site about CCD. http://www.csrees.usda.gov/newsroom/impact/2008/lgu/144_bees_in_crisis.html

With this plight upon us again I ask you- "What can you do to help these little guys?"And remember: One-third of the U.S. diet depends on pollination, mostly by honeybees• Some beekeepers are losing 50 percent of their bees to the disorder- we can not look away.