 "Photo: Nathan Batchelder")
Kathleen Merrigan, United States Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, gave a talk in UNH’s DeMeritt Hall last Friday. The presentation was part of the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative, an effort to create new economic opportunities by better connecting consumers with local products. The proposal is billed as, “a national conversation about the importance of understanding where your food comes from and how it gets to your plate,” according to the initiative’s website, and is being presented at colleges across the country. After talking to a standing room only crowd consisting of students, faculty, and community members, Merrigan had time for a brief interview with The New Hampshire.
Thomas Gounley: Why did you choose the college venue?
Kathleen Merrigan: Before coming to the USDA, I spent eight years as a college professor, so part of it is I miss talking to students. But really the biggest reason is because we have this gap of the population in terms of aging of farmers and ranchers, as well as USDA leaders. And I’m really concerned about where that next generation is going to come from. So I think it’s important to get people excited about agriculture, get them thinking about what kind of food system they want, and inspire them to stand up and do something different.
TG: How are using social media in this effort? I know you’re making it a priority.
KM: We’ve got blog posts and Facebook chats, and I’ll soon be twittering. We’ve done a number of YouTube videos. I’ve also done a series of memos that I just send out on the Internet and let them go “viral”. It’s all about reaching new constituencies. We even had some farmers here today who said: “You know, I’ve never applied for a USDA loan. And it’s not because it’s not available to me, but it’s just not part of what I’m thinking about.” So I think that there are a lot of people who could benefit from what USDA has, and they just haven’t approached USDA and I imagine USDA hasn’t approached them. So I’m trying to make those connections. “
TG: What have you been learning from some of the people you’ve been talking to on your tour?
KM: I think the biggest thing students say is, “Oh, it’s a little more complicated than I thought it was.” Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time to get into any one issue, but the dairy farmers say, “Oh, it’s all big dairy and USDA isn’t doing anything [for small dairy farmers].” And I say, “Well, we actually spent a billion dollars supporting the dairy industry last year, and a lot of it was for family farms, and the price volatility, and the twenty-dollar hundred-weight. I just could go on and on. All these issues are complicated, and what I’m trying to invite people to do is to get into the complexities. So I think that’s one of the things I’m hearing, that students are ready to talk about agriculture at a more complicated level, and that’s good. And the other thing I hear is that they assume that all of USDA is farm subsidies. That’s a small part of it. And a lot of those people that are getting those farm subsidies are small, family farmers. People don’t understand that either. If we talk about limiting farm subsidies for the very big actors, which the president has talked about, it’s a small number of people. That’s really not the game that USDA is in, for the most part. I think people are surprised to hear that.
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