Vilsack Looks Ahead

Vilsack Looks Ahead. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Line On Agriculture.

Yesterday, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack talked about some of the important things that happened in 2011 and today we discuss a little bit about what 2012 might hold.

VILSACK: Well opportunities from the free trade agreements to build on our export opportunities, I think those free trade agreements could generate a couple billion dollars of additional trade and maybe open up new markets or markets that have been closed for some time like in Japan and China with beef. Hopefully Russia’s entry into the WTO will make it a little bit easier to deal with those folks from time to time. I think we’re going to be obviously looking at a discussion about a Farm Bill in 2012 and whether it’s preserving that safety net, making sure that trade is on the forefront or continue our investment into research and development to make sure we’re productive. Those are all going to be parts of the conversation as well as how do we continue to grow jobs.

Jobs have been a very big issue for the Obama administration.

VILSACK: In rural America an interesting statistic, unemployment is going down at a faster rate in rural America than virtually any other place in the country. I think part of the reason is some of the work that we’re doing at USDA to help small businesses grow jobs, 10-15-20 at a time.

We continue to hear about more and more school kids being unable to afford school lunches and Vilsack says that is something they are really working on.

VILSACK: USDA’s got responsibility for operating the school lunch program/school breakfast program. You know when the economy is a bit tough folks are looking for ways in which they can get help and one way they can get help is having their children have a nutritious meal at school or breakfast at school. We’ve attempted with historic legislation that was passed last year in 2010 with the President’s leadership we’re now creating more nutritious meals, making it a little bit easier for people to access those programs so that may be one reason why you’re seeing an increase. And I think as we do a better job of making them more nutritious, as we sort of focus the attention of the country on this obesity epidemic, as the First Lady has, you’re going to see more and more people be conscious about what’s being served at schools. We’re going to do a better job in that respect and we’re also going to continue to work hard to grow jobs so that fewer families have need for those programs.

And Vilsack adds his Christmas wish.

VILSACK: I wish that in 2012 the 98% of American’s who do not farm and who do not ranch, have a greater appreciation and express that appreciation for farmers and ranchers than they have in the past.

That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.