Word: corns
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...administration, Barack Obama has nominated former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack to be the next secretary of agriculture. Vilsack was not an ideal choice for advocates of sustainable agriculture, who had hoped Obama would choose someone less connected to powerful agribusiness interests (Iowa's economy is dominated by huge corn and pig farms). But Vilsack has shown an ability to think independently and some critics are hoping his credibility with Big Agriculture could help him bring about radical changes in the Department of Agriculture without looking too far out of step with the mainstream...
...nomination, but it would have done institutional cartwheels if Obama had picked a toe-the-line "aggie" like House Agriculture Committee chairman Collin Peterson or former ranking member Charlie Stenholm. Vilsack does have predictably close ties to traditional agriculture and agribusiness, and he did run the nation's leading corn and soybean state. But he has also been a supporter of farm-conservation programs, clean-water regulations and a cap-and-trade scheme to prevent global warming. "He's not really an aggie," says one lobbyist involved in food and agriculture issues...
...climate change worse, not to mention contributing to food insecurity here and food riots in the Third World. In fact, a climate-change task force Vilsack co-chaired for the Council on Foreign Relations recommended that "the United States phase out domestic subsidies for mature biofuels such as conventional corn-based ethanol." That wouldn't go over big in Iowa...
...Hillary Clinton campaign event at a soy-biodiesel plant in Newton, Iowa. The theme of the day was that biofuels produce jobs, and Vilsack was pushing Iowa as "the clean-energy capital of America." But he was clearly aware of the new research suggesting that biofuels in general - and corn ethanol in particular - created more carbon emissions by accelerating deforestation than they saved by replacing fossil fuels. "It's definitely something we need to study," he said. Vilsack suggested that second-generation biofuels like cellulosic ethanol manufactured from switchgrass could solve the problem, particularly if it were grown on unproductive...
...fact, the jury is still out even on advanced biofuels; switchgrass would clearly be a big improvement on corn, but it's not yet clear if it would be an improvement on gasoline if there isn't enough unproductive land. Perhaps advanced biofuels from crop waste or even municipal waste would work better. In any case, it was interesting to see Obama make two references Wednesday to "advanced biofuels" and none to ethanol. And it's interesting that Vilsack has thought about this stuff in some detail...