Pollina To Strengthen Vermont Farms and Food Supply on Day One Calls for Vermont Independence from Industrial Agriculture
June 16, 2008 Press Statement:
Anthony Pollina will start strengthening Vermont’s farms and local food supply to protect our health, economy and our environment the day he takes office as Governor. He said the recent salmonella outbreak linked to tomatoes is one more reason to declare independence from industrial agriculture. Pollina, a long-time farm advocate, made the following statement:
“I am very eager to bring farmers into the Governor’s office and get to work strengthening our family farms and local food supply. We have a lot of hard-working entrepreneurial farmers. We have an active localvore movement. But we have barely scratched the surface of our agricultural potential. We will support more infrastructure, a Vermont Fair Trade certification process and local milk in every Vermont school.
It is time for Vermont to declare independence from industrialized agriculture. On day one I will convene a working group and get started. Farmers will set the specific priorities but we will strengthen our farms, our local food supply and the processing and transportation systems that support it. Among the specifics I propose:
- Support for processing Vermont vegetables, meat, dairy and other products, including direct incentives to agricultural development projects that provide jobs while helping grow our local agriculture. Special attention should be given to farmer-controlled projects.
- A Vermont Fair Trade Brand Certification program to identify real Vermont products that provide a decent return to farmers.
- A real State of Vermont Buy Local program that brings Vermont milk, yogurt and cheese, meat and vegetables to every Vermont school and Vermont food into state institutions.
- Strengthening our Farm-to-School programs.
- Extension of the growing season with greenhouses and other strategies
- Support for year round farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
I look forward to working with farmers, localvore organizations, school food service workers and others who are on the front lines of the local food movement. No issue will be more important to me.
Like it or not, when it comes to food and energy, Americans are being forced to change our lifestyle to adjust to higher prices and market manipulation. Luckily, Vermont is in a better position than most of the country to do it right, because our local agriculture and local food movement is strong.
The recent salmonella outbreak shows us again how important it is to escape mass-produced, mass-processed, chemical intensive food trucked or flown thousands of miles with insufficient safeguards for our health and the health of our communities. And, because industrialized food is basically a petroleum product, food prices will continue to go up as the price of oil goes up and food supplies and prices will be manipulated at the whim of other commodity markets.”
Pollina has many years of experience working with farmers and on farm issues. He was founder and Director of Rural Vermont, Agricultural Advisor to then U.S. Representative Bernie Sanders, for many years a Board Member of NOFA Vermont (Northeast Organic Farmers Association), co-founder of the Vermont Milk Company, coordinator of the National Dairy Campaign of the National Family Farm Coalition, and a member of Governor Madeline Kunin’s Agricultural Advisory Board.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 16, 2008
CONTACT: Meg Brook - 802-864-2008