Somebody’s listening in the White House

Holy grass-fed cow. Kathleen Merrigan, one of the dozen sustainable farm/food advocates on Food Democracy Now’s list of favorites for a high perch in the Obama administration, has been tapped for deputy secretary of agriculture. She is assistant professor and director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment Program at Tuft University. Imagine having someone in Washington who really can talk about farming, food and the environment at the same time. She’s an organic farming/environmental/food advocate/policy wonk who helped develop the federal standards for organic food labeling. And she worked at USDA in Texas when Jim Hightower was the most progressive Ag Commissioner in the country.

She has a Ph.D. in urban and environmental planning from MIT and a master’s degree in public affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. Most recently, she was administrator of the US Agricultural Marketing Service.

In other words, farmers, foodies and consumers won one. Actually we won two, as Obama recently announced he’s bringing his favorite Chicago chef to the White House, another sustainable food lover. Who knows, maybe there really will be a sustainable garden plot on the South Lawn before long.

There’s more grist on this from Grist.