Why Michael Pollan Doesn't Want to Be Secretary of Agriculture

By Michael Winship, AlterNet. Posted December 11, 2008.

Contrast this with the big bucks being shelled out in the recent $307 billion farm bill, much of it going to massive agribusinesses -- "A welfare program," as Time Magazine described it, "for the megafarms that use the most fuel, water and pesticides; emit the most greenhouse gases; grow the most fattening crops; hire the most illegals and depopulate rural America."

In a press conference on Tuesday, Obama cited a report released this week by the Government Accountability Office: "From 2003 to 2006, millionaire farmers received $49 million in crop subsidies, even though they were earning more than the $2.5 million cutoff to qualify for such subsidies," he said. "If this is true, it is a prime example of the kind of waste I intend to end as president."

All well and good, but as a senator, Obama supported that monster farm bill (although he was absent for the actual roll call). He also supported the production of ethanol (a politically expedient move when the Iowa Democratic caucuses were at stake), even though using corn for fuel rather than food raises the price of grain and results in huge emissions of greenhouse gases.

Thus, where food and agriculture are concerned, connecting the dots, as Pollan told Moyers, is a tortuous journey involving internecine politics, international diplomacy, big business, every branch of government and every issue, from morbid obesity to homeland security.

Pollan is hopeful that Obama will take advantage of his oratorical skills and bully pulpit to set an example for the American people, perhaps even suggesting "meatless Mondays" for the country -- which, according to Pollan, would have the ecological effect of taking 30 million to 40 million cars off the road for a year -- and encouraging home gardening and eating locally; supporting the small farmers who grow fresh food nearby -- without chemicals or subsidies.

"I think we have to figure out different solutions in different places, and it's not all or nothing," he said. "We need to let a thousand flowers bloom. We need to try many things in many places, and figure out what works...

"Vote with your fork, for a different kind of food. Go to the farmer's market. Get out of the supermarket... Plant a garden... Declare your independence from the culture of fast food."

Regardless of who Obama chooses as his Ag secretary, it will be interesting to see if the new president sees fit to make Pollan an unofficial advisor on food issues, an influential voice in his -- you should excuse the expression -- kitchen cabinet.

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Michael Winship is senior writer of the weekly public affairs program Bill Moyers Journal, which airs Friday night on PBS.

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