Obama Making Good Progress on Food Issues

If you want to know about the worst practices of our food system, David Kirby is your man.

Author, most recently, of Animal Factory: The Looming Threat of Pig, Dairy and Poultry Farms to Humans and the Environment, Kirby has the inside track on all things factory farm, which is why Washington Post's "On Leadership" column recently invited him to write a guest post about President Obama's record on reform in this area.

Kirby's verdict? "The administration is, in fact, taking serious measures to address the pollution and market dominance brought about by industrial animal production."

While Obama's progress doesn't come close to matching up with his campaign promises, there's a lot for us all to be happy about, including:

• New EPA rules requiring factory farms to comply with the Clean Water Act;
• Moves to enforce federal CAFO rules on chicken operations in the mid-Atlantic;
• Identification of animal waste runoff as a "priority" for federal enforcement;
• Closing USDA farm subsidy loopholes;
• Holding hearings on competition in the agricultural sector;
• New USDA rules for transparency in loans to contract poultry and pork producers;
• Launch of the "Know Your Farmer" program connecting local farmers and consumers;
• Scrapping the federal animal ID program that unfairly disadvantaged small farmers;
• Revising organic meat-and-dairy regulations to the consumer's advantage; and
• Planning a "National Rural Summit," to be announced soon.

Not bad, huh? Kirby certainly thinks so. "It's a record of which [Obama] should be proud," he writes. Unfortunately, though, the president and his people don't feel much like talking about all they're doing. They are oddly silent on all this progress, when they should be trumpeting their success from the roof of the White House.

Especially considering the public's rapidly growing concern about the safety and health of our food supply, Kirby's right is saying that "Obama should go out of his way to showcase his leadership in confronting the pollution and economic consolidation of animal factory farming."

Photo: jurvetson via Flickr