Opening Doors for Greater Transparency and Engagement at USDA
Today is an exciting day at USDA – and across the government
– as we release
our Open
Gov Plan that formalizes plans to integrate openness, transparency,
participation and collaboration into our every day activities.
The path has been an exciting one, and USDA has met the Open
Government Directive deliverables with help from employees and the public.
Central to our efforts are core values of accountability and accessibility;
bridging the gap between the American People and government.
On January 29 we launched the USDA’s Open Gov Website, the start of a dynamic
conversation with the public to help shape the Open Gov Plan. Nearly 900
individuals contributed to the USDA Open Community with 108 ideas, 512 votes,
and 196 comments. Last week we released the draft plan to show our progress and
solicit additional feedback before issuing the formal plan. Many ideas and
comments were incorporated to our plan.
We hope that the impressive level of civic engagement
continues; as the plan evolves and grows we will provide regular feedback and
updates on progress. We are
working to transform the culture and processes throughout the Department to
fully embrace open government and apply its principles every day that are
rooted in every agency, at every level.
This is only the beginning as we move forward to translate
the principles of open government into lasting and tangible improvements in the
way we make decisions, solve problems and address challenges together.
Amanda Eamich,
Director of New Media U.S. Department of Agriculture
Permalink |
Posted:
01:36PM Apr 07, 2010
by USDAblogger in USDA Web Site |
Secretary Vilsack Highlights Partnership Between U.S. and Japan While in Tokyo
This week, Agriculture Secretary
Tom Vilsack left the beauty of a cherry blossom adorned nation’s capital to
travel to the origin of the beautiful pink and white flowered trees—Japan
(where one finds even larger crowds of tourists, amateur photographers, and
general admirers of the cherry blossom trees than along Washington DC’s tidal
basin this time of the year). Vilsack is in Japan to
highlight the outstanding partnership that exists between the
United States and Japan, and to promote U.S. agricultural exports, as part of
President Obama’s efforts to expand U.S. exports under the National Export
Initiative.
Today, Secretary Vilsack gave a
keynote address to a packed room of agricultural experts and reporters at the
Partners in Agriculture Global Food Security Symposium. He emphasized the need
for investment in agricultural development and that by doing so it will lead
the way to a permanent solution to food insecurity. He added that cooperation
between the U.S. and Japan, the world’s leading economies, will be critical to
explore how the world’s wealthiest countries can address hunger and malnutrition
around the world.
Near the end of
his remarks, Secretary Vilsack shared a touching anecdote about an experience
he had during a trip to Africa, where he was told by students that the best
part of school was the fact that knew they would get a good meal if they came
to school.
He emphasized that the
reason this food security symposium was so important was that it brings “two
great nations together to address one of the great challenges of our time” and
to address these issues “in a meaningful and comprehensive way…to make sure we
have a world in which every child can say the reason they enjoy school is not
because they got fed, but because they learned.”
Later that morning, Secretary
Vilsack led a fascinating town-hall meeting with Japanese students.
After taking off his coat to create a
more relaxed atmosphere - a step that none of the students followed – and
briefly discussing the importance of the relationship between the United States
and Japan on agricultural issues, Vilsack opened it up to questions, both to
the people in the audience at the US Embassy in Tokyo as well as groups of
students at consulates around Japan connected by videoconference.
Despite initial concerns that Japan’s
extremely polite students might not want to ask questions, the students posed a
series of extremely thoughtful and intelligent questions – on topics ranging from
encouraging young people to be farmers, to the role of genetically modified
crops, to the relative safety of locally produced vs. imported food, anti-trust
issues around seed technology, and support for value-added agriculture
.Secretary Vilsack rounded out his
afternoon of industry meetings by joining Kenneth Quinn of the World Food Prize
Foundation in co-presenting the Norman Borlaug Medallion to Yohei Sasakawa, for
his leadership in creating the Sasakawa Africa Association. The Medallion is
intended as a special honor to be presented to individuals who have provided
exceptional humanitarian service in reducing hunger and poverty.
For the past 23 years, the
association has worked with tens of thousands of frontline extension volunteers
and several million farmers in 14 sub-Saharan Africa countries to test and
promote higher-yielding technology for maize, wheat, rice, grain legumes, and
roots and tubers.
Secretary Vilsack led a town-hall meeting with university students in Tokyo on a variety of agriculture topics. 
Secretary Vilsack and Kenneth Quinn of the World Food Prize Foundation
presented the Norman Borlaug Medallion to Yohei Sasakawa for his
leadership in creating the Sasakawa Africa Association.
Permalink |
Posted:
12:35PM Apr 07, 2010
by USDAblogger in USDA Web Site |
Wednesday Apr 07, 2010
