While browsing around the New York Times website I came across an interview posted on one of their internal blogs. The interview was with Representative Sam Farr from California’s 17th district. Representative Farr is one of the leaders of a bipartisan caucus in the Congress that focuses on organic agriculture. I thought I’d share some pieces of that interview here for your reading enjoyment.
Question: What needs to be done to ensure our food is safe?
Answer: Food safety has to go back to the field. [Read the full interview for more on this answer]
Question: How significant is it that there is now a vegetable garden on the White House lawn, the first since World War II?
Answer: I think it’s incredible. If there was a statement about values and priorities, it’s that vegetable garden at the White House. In politics, we learn that you ought to practice what you speak. I think for the Obamas, it shows their sincerity to the issues around food. And what a great demonstration, particularly for children, to eat fresh fruits and vegetables out of their own gardens.
Again, nothing major or groundbreaking coming out of this interview, but it’s nice to see that one of the newspapers with the widest readership in the United States has, at least on their website, an area dedicated to talking about one of the most overlooked pieces of creating a new, healthy agricultural system in America. There are so many health problems that can be traced back, in part, to the unhealthy diets of Americans or at least to the core difference in the types of “food products” that we are consuming today versus what our ancestors (even as recent as a few decades ago) consumed.
I hope that more organic agriculture discussions pop up in the mainstream media because, as Representative Farr suggests, food safety (and growing “real foods”) has to go back to the field.
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