![]() “One consequence … that focus on productivity was that it became more expensive to put a crop in the ground,” he said. Vilsack went on to say he saw this week’s forum as “a continuation of that tradition.”Īnd yet, in his very next breath, he spoke of the unintended consequences of all that success. “It’s truly a remarkable story of innovation,” he said. ![]() In each of these instances, the American agricultural industry responded in “extraordinary” fashion, leading the current agriculture secretary to observe that in his lifetime alone, “the productivity of American farmers has improved by 17 times.” “Secretary Butz understood the world population was going to continue to grow, and he wanted American agriculture to be front and center of an international effort to feed it,” Vilsack said. He then moved on to the 1930s when another president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, created the Farm Security Administration to provide emergency relief and resettle farmers on more productive land during the Dust Bowl crisis, and wound up in the 1970s, when one of Vilsack’s predecessors, Earl Butz, encouraged farmers to produce more and sell their surplus overseas. … And strengthening rural America is critical to our democracy.”Įarly on in his remarks, which he delivered in just under an hour, Vilsack recounted other “pivotal” moments in the sector’s history, starting with Abraham Lincoln’s decision to establish a Department of Agriculture in the midst of the Civil War - so that “farmers could prosper” once the national conflagration was over. “What this does … is strengthen the financial base of rural America. ![]() “It’s not just about trying to get bigger,” he said. It’s time, he said, for farmers to seize a myriad of new opportunities in, among other things, expanded processing, clean energy and the conversion of agricultural waste into advanced materials needed in the next generation of manufacturing. ![]() Department of Agriculture’s 99th annual agricultural outlook forum, which is being held Thursday and Friday at the Crystal City Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Vilsack told attendees “this is a pivotal moment for American agriculture.” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urged Congress on Thursday to use the upcoming farm bill reauthorization as an opportunity to encourage America’s farmers to diversify and “create multiple profit centers” in their farming operations. ![]()
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