:D

Great initiative! What about more specialized initiatives like school lunches and biodiesel that relate to the agencies under USDA? Where can we comment on those?

great information here, thanks

We have to take control of our own health and not rely on government agencies

The USDA/FDA are not out of control we use science based technology in assuring Food Safety. But it's a great big job with so many food producers, growers, and consumers and each must do their part in the Food Supply Chain.

Glad the USDA is using new media to get information out to the public

This is a great use of New Media. We need other USDA agencies below the Department to start using these technologies too.

It's funny that USDA is saying, "We want to do something, and we want you to tell us what to do and how." That's not very visionary leadership, although it IS thankfully inclusive participatory government. Here are a few ideas.
1. USDA can assign responsibility for KYFKYF to one of its specific agencies. Link the success of some appointed official to the success of this program.
2. Country Of Origin Labeling (COOL) regulations may be extended to indicate US STATE of origin. We can also make this labeling more prominent. Consumers need to know, so they can choose.
3. We currently spend US tax dollars subsidizing agriculture, which is good, because our food security must NOT be left for sale in a capitalist free market. If local food is an important part of agriculture, the USDA should subsidize this segment of the industry. We should use the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) as a precedent, example, and policy marketing tool.

My partner and I were upper-middle-class professionals, who got sick of/from the Global Economy and how it is destroying the planet and the health and well-being of most people--i.e. those of us who are not billionaires, but especially the residents of the Global South. We decided to "disconnect" from it to the extent possible. In 2005, we started our own five-acre farm, and developed it in as green a way as possible, to feed ourselves and the local community and share information on how to live sustainably in both rural and urban settings. Slowly the farm is moving toward real, total sustainability.

Remember the slogan from the sixties, What if they gave a war and nobody came? We need to add to it, What if they gave a Global Economy and nobody came? They can't be reined in by anyone--Obama was our best hope politically, and they are just too big, too entrenched, too powerful. WE have to create a better society right along side this dysfunctional one!

A case in point: Nursing Homes have notorious food issues; when I asked the SNF staff at my mother's health conference last week why they couldn't buy from local organic farmers, which abound in Mendocino County, CA, they said their hands were tied by Title 22 and OBRA regulations. If the USDA really wants to help small sustainable farmers, promote regional food production, and ensure global food security, they should also promote small, local sustainable farms to feed local institutions, public and private: schools, senior facilities, nursing homes, government offices, etc. Last but not least, the USDA should nail Big Ag and Food Processing Giants like Cargill, Monsanto, and Archer Daniel Midlands for their outrageous abuses and end their tyranny over Global Food Production.