Meet Tom Vilsack, Biden’s Nominee For Secretary Of Agriculture | NBC News NOW

1. Why couldn't Biden have selected Marcia Fudge or Chellie Pingree for USDA Secretary? vox.com: “We do not need another pro-agribusiness USDA secretary,” Morris says. “[Rep. Chellie] Pingree or Fudge, two of the other candidates being mentioned in the press, would be better choices for people and animals.”

   Pingree (D-ME), a veteran of the House Appropriations subcommittee for agriculture and the Ag Committee, is actually an organic farmer herself, with a 200-acre vegetable, pig, and chicken farm on North Haven Island off the coast of Maine.

   Either she or Fudge would seem to be sound choices if the Biden administration actually wants to confront factory farming and animal agriculture head-on.

2. I'm a Biden supporter, but not sure about some of his cabinet choices. I hope the progressives in Congress will push for conversion of factory farms to small farms, non-corporate. Why Ending Factory Farming Must Be Part of Biden’s Plan to Tackle America’s Biggest Issues. foodtank.com:

   COVID-19, climate change, economic recovery and advancing racial equity are some of the biggest issues President Biden and Vice President Harris plan to tackle in their first 100 days, and one dangerously overlooked cause of suffering intersects with them all: the factory farming and slaughter of nearly 10 billion pigs, chickens and cows each year in the United States. Industrial animal agriculture is not just immensely cruel to animals, it also exacerbates and perpetuates climate change, racial injustice and the decline of rural communities and economies. The fates of farm animals and humans are inextricably tied.

   Opposition to animal cruelty is a widely held value, but factory farming has not always been viewed through this lens. That is changing, as investigations over the years have revealed pregnant pigs languishing in agony in gestation crates so small that they cannot turn around, and hellish images of endless rows of cages crammed with egg-laying hens. Animals on factory farms are treated as production units instead of the sentient creatures they are, and this suffering ripples outward into our society. Now, with the pandemic pushing our food system to its breaking point, even more evidence has emerged that factory farming is an ethical disaster. According to a recent poll commissioned by the ASPCA six months into the COVID-19 crisis, 89 percent of people are troubled by the impacts of industrial animal agriculture, citing animal welfare, worker safety or public health risks as areas of concern.

   Bringing COVID-19 under control and preventing future pandemics will require urgent action to address the unsafe and inhumane way that billions of farm animals are raised and slaughtered. Though the COVID-19 virus likely emerged from abusive conditions at a live animal market outside of the United States, factory farms are also a significant homegrown threat for future pandemics. Hallmarks of factory farming—crowding thousands of extremely stressed animals together in constant contact with their own waste and pumping them full of antibiotics to keep them alive—make these facilities hotspots for future public health crises. Antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens and highly contagious zoonotic diseases have already emerged from industrial animal agriculture, outpacing our ability to create new antibiotics or control disease spread. Given these inhumane and unsanitary conditions, it is highly likely that a factory farm-bred disease will, at some point, become the source of another global health crisis.

   Conditions on factory farms aren’t the only public health risk factors in this system—industrial slaughter facilities have placed profit over worker and animal safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. After neglecting to provide adequate PPE or allow social distancing, more than 52,300 slaughter plant workers have tested positive for coronavirus since April, and at least 266 have died from the virus. Alarmingly fast slaughter line speeds are one reason workers cannot maintain distance between themselves. These extreme line speeds—as fast as three birds slaughtered every second—also make it more difficult for plants to abide by humane handling regulations and laws, putting animals at serious risk of abusive handling and acute suffering, including conscious dismemberment.

   As the Biden-Harris administration works to combat the climate crisis, animal agriculture should be at the top of the list of industries to regulate. Industrial animal agriculture generates more greenhouse gases than all the world’s combined emissions from the transportation sector. Manure and harmful pollutants from factory farms contaminate the water, land and air in neighboring communities, compromising human health and environmental integrity. Factory farms also consume massive quantities of water and fossil fuels, requiring vast amounts of energy to cool, heat and ventilate the facilities where animals are housed. Chickens, pigs and cows are typically fed monocrops such as corn that are dependent on large amounts of chemical fertilizer and fossil fuels to harvest. Animal agriculture is also the leading cause of deforestation—both for clearing land for feed crops and for grazing—which releases billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. These impacts are entirely unsustainable, so reform is inevitable – it’s just a question of how much more damage occurs before the industry is forced to change its ways.

   Much of this destruction is happening because mega-corporations have taken over agriculture, leading to the decline of smaller, more responsible farmers and food businesses across the country. Factory farms place an enormous economic toll on rural communities, often causing property values to plummet due to noxious smells and contaminated drinking water. While industrial facilities have taken over the agricultural landscape across much of rural America, Black, brown and Indigenous communities are burdened with a disproportionate number of factory farms and industrial slaughter operations. Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of workers who are contracting COVID-19 in slaughter facilities are people of color. Corporations often choose to locate in these communities because they believe residents won’t have the political or economic leverage to present challenges. An analysis by the Environmental Working Group and Waterkeeper Alliance recently showed that North Carolina’s 6,500 factory farms excessively impact communities of color. These factory farms pollute the air and water with disease-causing bacteria that can ravage the health of neighboring residents.

   To rebuild the economy, combat COVID-19 and climate change, and address racial inequity, President Biden must prioritize a transition to a more humane, resilient and decentralized food system and end government subsidies for factory farms. Americans are waking up to the horrific realities of factory farming, and support for these necessary reforms is already strong. Sixty-one percent of Americans approve of directing government funds toward more humane and sustainable farmers, with even more enthusiasm (72 percent) among young people under 30. A remarkably high number—47 percent—of all Americans support an immediate and total ban on factory farms. Reforming our food system is no easy feat, but the Biden-Harris administration can take a critical first step by lending their support to the Farm System Reform Act (FSRA). Championed by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), the FSRA would phase out large factory farms while funding farmers’ transition to more humane, sustainable and healthier farming methods.

   The changes we so desperately need will not be made without collective action. Contact your representatives in Washington D.C. and advocate for the Farm System Reform Act. Harness the power you possess as consumers by choosing plant-based options or welfare-certified meat, eggs and dairy to improve the lives of billions of chickens, pigs and cows and weaken the stranglehold industrial agriculture has on the marketplace. Together we can end factory farming.

3. oh how wonderful Biden picked mr Monsanto here you go democrats this is what you wanted isn't it hahahaha

4. What’s crazy is that out of the seven senators who didn’t vote for him they were Ted Cruz (R) Josh Hawley (R) Rand Paul (R) Marco Rubio (R) Rick Scott (R) Dan Sullivan (R) and Bernie Sanders (D) to me that saids something when Bernie is voting with Ted Cruz

5. CORPORATE CROOK THINKS THE SMALL FARMER IS BATHROOM WASTE WAKE UP AMERICA

6. Failure. Factory farms will flourish. Immense animal suffering will increase. Small farms will struggle. Families will be subject to antibiotic and chemical laden foods. Our government is an indescribable dissapointment😡

7. NO NO NO NO NO TO THIS PERSON!!!! Vilsack was Secretary of Agriculture during both terms of the Obama administration, lobbied for Monsanto and the GMO industry when he was Iowa Governor, recently earned $1 million a year as a lobbyist for the dairy industry, and now he could be back to oversee another 4 years of corruption.
   Under Obama, Vilsack oversaw the continued deterioration of traditional family farming – the farms that feed America real food – instead furthering the interests of Big Ag and GMO/chemical corporations that create the unhealthy, chemical laden junk food responsible for an ongoing decline in public health. Vilsack'S USDA:
   Weakened Organics in America
   Promoted the policy of GMO “coexistence”, resulting in the genetic contamination of organic and non-GMO crops

   Promoted herbicide-tolerant GMOs, resulting in increasing pesticide contamination of organic crops

   Allowed factory farm CAFOs to fraudulently certify as organic, putting real organic meat, egg and dairy producers at a competitive disadvantage

   Failed to monitor and prevent fraudulent organic grain imports and fraudulent domestic grains, flooding the American market, scamming consumers and putting America’s real organic farmers at a competitive disadvantage. Read HERE and HERE

   Allowed the weakening of organic review procedures by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) and ignored several NOSB recommendations

   Approved more GMOs than any of his predecessors, including:
   Monsanto’s glyphosate-tolerant sugar beets, causing a shift in the conventional market from non-GMO to GMO

   Monsanto’s glyphosate-tolerant alfalfa, the first perennial GMO crop, contaminating and causing millions in lost revenue for non-GMO alfalfa growers

   Monsanto’s dicamba-tolerant Xtend soy and cotton, resulting in uncontrollable dicamba-drift responsible for unprecedented damage to millions of acres of non-GMO and organic crops, orchards, vineyards, forests and landscapes across the U.S.

   Syngenta’s Agrisure corn – illegal and rejected by China, causing American farmers $1.5 billion in losses

   Dow’s 2,4-D-tolerant Enlist Duo corn, cotton and soy, increasing America’s exposure to yet another toxic herbicide, 2,4-D, which was half of Agent Orange

   J.R. Simplot’s Innate potatoes – even the potato’s creator has warned about the dangers of these GMO potatoes

   Scotts Miracle-Gro Roundup Ready lawn grass – GMO grass has already caused millions in damage in Oregon during and after field trials

   Failed to regulate cloned animals, synthetic dairy and lab-created meat

   Was instrumental in crafting and promoting the deceptively titled Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2014, better known as the DARK Act. The DARK Act is a GMO industry and Big Food-friendly national “GMO labeling” bill that does not require on-package labeling and exempts many GMOs from being disclosed at all. The bill banned state-level GMO labeling laws, including the true on-package GMO labeling standard passed in Vermont.
   America’s organic and non-GMO farmers and the American public deserve a Secretary of Agriculture that champions family farms, food workers, and a truly healthy and clean food system over big corporations’ bottom lines. Vilsack may be right for Bayer-Monsanto, but he is certainly wrong for America.

   Tell your U.S. Senators that the political Revolving Door must be closed. Say NO to Tom Vilsack. Please….pass on this information.

8. If Vilsack's support of big corporate farms increases, not only minority farms but all family farms will be losing. When he talks about climate change and carbon sequestering, I haven't heard him mention organic or sustainable farming at all, which is the best way to farm and build up our soils with carbon and microorganisms.

9. I don't think anyone can be born an orphan…

10. God help us.

11. Purdue was worthless just like the moron that appointed him. Good riddance. He’s being replaced by Mr. Monsanto here. Not much of an improvement.

12. Lauren boebert was sent in to the capital to find nancy pelosi location and she was carrying a gun.

13. The odd chocolate largely coil because tub enzymatically wash abaft a absurd help. spurious, didactic syrup

14. Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
    Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
    “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted".
    Matthew 23 NIV

    You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything, in Heaven above or in the Earth beneath, or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents up to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

    "If my people who are called by my name, humble themselves and pray, AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS, I will hear from Heaven, will forgive their sins, and will heal their land."

    And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

    This, then, is how you should pray:

    Our Father in heaven,
    hallowed be your name,
    your kingdom come,
    your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
    Give us today our daily bread.
    And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
    And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.

    For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

    "Matthew 5-7 NIV Bible Gateway", we can use google search.
    These are the teachings,
    The Righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ our God.
    REPENT, and start doing what is right.
    If you abide my teachings, you are really my disciples; then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

    A time is coming and has now come, that the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth. God is Spirit, so his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and Truth; they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

    In the New Heaven and New Earth,
    only Righteousness dwells.
    May the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ our God be with you all.

15. ⭐️🇺🇸⭐️TRUMP2024⭐️🇺🇸⭐️

16. "Farm bankruptcies in the U.S. increased by 20% in 2019, according to U.S. Courts data, reaching an 8-year high after 595 Chapter 12 bankruptcies were filed by family farms." #MAGA

17. I hope America will finally come to peace! .. Ladies and gentlemen, sorry that my text is off topic! .. I am from Russia, I live in Siberia, I am 63 years old, I position myself as an Inventor! For obvious reasons, my know-how did not find popularity in Russia, in a country where the budget is 50% formed from fossil fuels, my invention is doomed to oblivion! I hope for caring business people who are not indifferent to the environment and nature. My power take-off rotor (conveyor type) will allow you to obtain energy from water flow (rivers, sea currents) on an industrial scale, using my underwater power plants without a dam, will help you avoid burning: coal, gas, oil, atom … I am looking for a sponsor. … investor (non-proprietary), my address is: genapopovgena2018genady@yandex.ru …. It's great if my message reaches the office of President Bidon, who cares for the environment!

18. More and more people are turning to local, family farms as a source for quality food. Dept of Agriculture needs to support these small farms. Instead of huge incentives to corps, put that money to promoting and supporting them.

19. FUN FACTS: The land of the free has 2.3 million Adults and children incarcerated.
    China owns 191,000 acres (1.9 billion) of US farm land.
    US has 27 trillion pounds of debt. 1.1 trillion owed to China.

20. We are hopeless without Jesus Christ.

21. Seems to be a man of character

22. Good Pick!

23. KKK and other W. Supremacist Blood must be BOILING after the Defeat of Trump 🤔

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