USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke with activists in Des Moines on October 13 in support of Obama’s administration’s efforts to promote farmers markets and locally-grown food in schools, hospitals and other government-ran buildings.
These views were crowd-pleasers, but when he refused to agree with a questioner’s view that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are dangerous, the crowd booed.
Vilsack agreed that he’s open to research on the safety of GMOs, but never said they were a bad idea. “You all see one answer. I talk to other people who see completely different answers,” said Vilsack.
The visit’s main purpose was “Know your farmer, know your food” campaign which is popular with most people in the agricultural industry. Over the past year the popularity of farmers markets has increased by 13 percent. The program would not only promote local farms, but it offers loans to help co-ops and rural businesses to begin food processing.
He added that the locally grown food industry has reached $5 billion in the United States and can help not only improve nutrition, but rural economies in the recession as well.
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