USDA Garden?

Obama Foodorama posts on the planting of an organic garden outside the ivory tower, I mean the Administration building of USDA. Mostly photos, with a promise of text later. I note they're following the example of the Obama garden and using lots of seedlings. I don't find any publicity for it on the USDA site, although I do note a bunch of appointments (14) mostly of former campaign workers to confidential assistant type posts.

To provide a touch of reality to the hype about the Obama and USDA gardens, the Post's garden editor had a column today, recounting all the hazards beginning gardeners have to negotiate.

Early Days in Colorado

The New Yorker has a nice piece about two women from Auburn, NY who went to rural Colorado (Elkhead) in the early 20th century as an adventure to teach school. [Registration required to read the whole piece.] But there's an audio slide show here which is open to all (though you don't get the love story).
I like it, a bit of romance, a glimpse of the past, some upsetting of stereotypes about who the settlers were.

Taxes

Just filed my tax returns. :-) Obviously I can't complain, since my retirement pay is from the taxpayers.

One thought, however, if you could move to any other place in the United States, with the same compensation you have now, would you do it? (I'd have to see some cash on the barrelhead before moving, but not much for some places.)

How about moving to any other country in the world, with the same compensation you have now, would you do it? If not, how much more money would it require for you to move?

How Does Your Garden Grow?

See this picture from Obama Foodorama of the White House garden. I observe they've sort of cheated by going with seedlings, rather than seeds.

What I really want to know is what are those white stones? pellets? scattered around. I can't think of anything that looks like that.

I'd also say, someone really likes their dill.

Right and Left Extremes

The right is blogging about a report from DHS, analyzing the likelihood of greater terrorism from the extreme right.

But through Steve Benen at Washington Monthly and then Greg Sargent, here's the URL for DHS analysis of some threats from the extreme left. Of note from the summary:

"It focuses on the more prominent leftwing groups within
the animal rights, environmental, and anarchist extremist movements that promote or
have conducted criminal or terrorist activities...."

It's interesting, sometimes the extreme libertarian view on the right meets the extreme anarchist view on the left. Our image of a linear continuum is an easy assumption, but often misleading.

Being Unfair to the Right

Rep. Brad Miller has the audacity and poor taste to quote Cato and Stephen Moore from back when--on the Community Reinvestment Act and subprime loans.:

The conservative Cato Institute published an article in the fall of 2000 that said CRA should stand for Community Redundancy Act. The article argued that “progress predicated on technology, financial innovation and competition — not CRA — has broadened the U.S. financial marketplace,” including lending in neighborhoods that had once been redlined. If a lender discriminated against a low-income neighborhood, “the profit motive would lead another lender to move in and fill the void.”

Proof that increased lending in low-­income neighborhoods was not the result of requirements of the CRA, the Cato article said, was that much of the lending was by “institutions outside CRA’s jurisdiction.”

I appeared with Stephen Moore on CNBC on Oct. 25, 2007. Moore is a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board and founded the Club for Growth. Moore said that legislation I introduced to protect homeowners from predatory mortgage lending would have a “negative effect on homeownership.” “Ultimately,” Moore said, “for all the talk of how evil the subprime lenders are, let’s not forget, you know, 94 percent of these subprime loans are paid on time. And subprime lenders have actually increased the rate of homeownership in America.”

I wonder--the Internet makes it easier to catch people of all stripes in inconsistencies and flip-flops over time. Will that eventually make us more careful in forming and voicing opinions?

No, I didn't think so.

New Technology

The Times blog has a post about a new cellphone/credit card system--the phone has a chip that communicates to a credit card reader. I believe recently I've also read of a cellphone/ID system, with user ids and passwords securely stored in the phone. So soon all of one's identity can be stored securely in one small device.

The only thing lacking will be a mental link--i.e. for us geezers who have senior moments, we need a device smart enough to sense when we're panicking about being unable to find it.

Newspapers and Legal Notices

So, if the newspapers go under, what will be the requirement for legal notices? (For the past year, I think notices of foreclosures have been the mainstay of the Washington Post.)

Seems to me we could do a lot better with such notices, just as we could with the Federal Register, by using current technology.

Gardening Boom?

Secretary Vilsack says here (interview while helping plant) the Obama garden may have spurred seed sales and others have speculated that the recession will cause people to save money gardening.

This may be so, but I can't see it at my community garden. The rules call for visible activity by the first week of May and usually there's only a couple plots idle by then. Right now there's a number idle. It may be the spring has been cool. Or maybe just a statistical anomaly. Or maybe Obama has all my fellow gardeners working overtime so they're too tired to dig.

Schafer on FSA Computers

According to this long interview post-Jan 20 with the former Secretary of Agriculture, FSA computers are his top concern. "An ongoing effort to get funding FSA computer revamping is just one of the issues of unfinished business when Schafer cleaned out his office Jan. 16. Security for the inauguration was using USDA offices because they’re directly on the National Mall."

I think the article errs on one point--last I knew the Secret Service doesn't protect cabinet secretaries. Which isn't to say they don't have security personnel, they do and Newt Gingrich fussed about it 15 years ago.

NASCOE Update

The National Association of State and County Employees (NASCOE) is the employee organization for FSA. The President has a report of her meeting with Vilsack and various DC (temporary) bigshots. Most of it (all of it, actually) is inside baseball stuff, the general status of various programs and improvements, issues on the proper classification of different positions, etc.

One item of interest to me: " Plans for future of IT include a central application server which a county office user will access using a thin client. This will make the system easier to manage and upgrade. Data will be stored on a central database. " I guess, assuming broadband in all counties, the location of data has become irrelevant. Even today, we can move graphic information (GIS images) around the web fast enough to service people. Of course, by 2013 FSA ought to be getting its acreage data by download from the planters and combines which are guided by GPS.

Another thing I noted: absolutely no mention of any need to work with NRCS on computer implementation. (So much for Secretary Madigan's Info Share initiative, I guess. (That's geezer inside baseball.))

Change Is Hard for the Post

The Washington Post recently changed their weekend format, doing away with their separate Book World, moving some reviews into their weekend opinion Outlook, etc. This weekend they had a glitch, which I failed to notice yesterday, but which was evident today. Briefly put, they printed their Sunday editorials, letters to the editor, and op-eds on Saturday, and then again today. I assume both sets of pages were in the computer and the wrong one got included in the press run. Such is the nature of change and computers.

Our Inefficient Government

Nextgov has a post which shows the inefficiency of the Federal government:

The Obama administration directed agencies in February to solicit input from employees on improving government transparency, but some didn't receive the message until after the comment period ended in March, according to several workers and consultants who provided feedback.

What happens, is each department and most agencies within each department, has it's own communication system. So a message from Obama to the lowliest Federal worker has to work its way through several message chains. (In the old days, the Civil Service Commission would issue its regulations in the Federal Personnel Manual, USDA's Office of Personnel would issue its regulations, then ASCS would issue its regulations.)

So there's no way Obama can directly contact bureaucrats in the agencies. That makes for inefficiency, but it also makes for a peculiarly American safeguard of liberties. By making government confused and fractionated, we soothe our fears of some great tyranny; at least, most of us soothe those fears, but there's still the people whose fears are live (we mostly consider those as the wingnuts of left and right).

Social Security and Foodies

I've one caution for those foodies who seek the simple life for its rewards. I surely agree one could be happy with a patch of land, a simple house, some animals, and some organics, at least as long as there's a good library nearby and broadband Internet connection.

But, and it's a big but, emulating the Amish or reverting to the diverse farms of 100 years ago is not simple. One of the hidden prerequisites of such a way of life is a large family, or at least a close-extended family. In other words--when there's no social security, when you become a geezer you become dependent on your children for your support. That's true for the Amish, it was true in 1910 farm life. Large families seem uncommon these days. To the extent single women have taken up farming, they are particularly vulnerable.

Yes, we have social security these days. (Social security coverage was extended to farmers in the mid 1950's.) But the size of your benefit is somewhat proportional to the amount of income you report and the amount of FICA tax you pay. If a quest for simplicity leads you to minimal income, or minimize your income on the 1040, or to skip paying the full 14-15 percent FICA tax for self-employed people, then you're vulnerable in your old age. (Unless, of course, you spent years toiling at the keyboard and establishing your 40 quarters. Then you will benefit from the structure of the system, getting higher benefits.)

Carbon Offsets from a Bureaucrat's Viewpoint

Okay, I was a bureaucrat so when there's talk of paying farmers for carbon offsets, I immediately think of how it might be handled by USDA/FSA. And, because I'm stuck in a rut, I'm likely to think of structures FSA has used in the past.

Back in the 1970's there was something which strikes me as a parallel. Under the program then, ASCS (FSA's predecessor) established a "conserving base" for each farm. This was the acreage in "conserving uses" (think of it as hay fields, pastures, grassland). Under the program,as a condition of receiving benefits farmers might be required to increase the acreage in conserving uses for the year (and not break out any new cropland). That seems to me to be a valid model for any future payments for carbon offsets. FSA/NRCS looks at the farming operation, documents what's being done already which impacts carbon sequestration. Call it a "carbon offset base". Then you could pay taxpayer dollars for changes to the operation which increases sequestration. But you'd also have to assess charges if and when a farmer changes her operation and reduces the carbon offset base. Or, assess the operation yearly and make yearly payments.

No doubt I'll have more to say as the subject continues to heat up.

Maybe Dairy Isn't the Only Real Farming

I've always thought dairying was the only real farming, up at 4 am for first milking, do second milking at 4 pm, 365 days a year, plus all the chores. Hens are almost as bad, but you could feed and collect eggs starting at 8 am and finishing at 4 pm. I know that's parochial, but humans are.

But this piece on doing flood irrigation gives me a sense of some of the work other farmers do.

Establishing Yields

I haven't kept track of what's needed for ACRE so I'm not sure about this, from Farm Policy:
DTN Ag Policy Editor Chris Clayton reported on this development yesterday and noted that,

“USDA has not posted a handbook on ACRE on its website or sent handbooks to county offices yet. Handbooks provide details on how USDA will interpret rules in certain instances. Nor has USDA released details on how it will establish production history for farmers who do not have five years of certified history from which to figure an Olympic average. Farmers who have learned about the program’s requirements have expressed concern about what FSA will accept as verifiable yield records.”

However, I'd note FSA does have a notice out on establishing yields for pulse crops. Skimming it, it looks to be very similar to the rules FSA used back in 1981 (?) to establish oat yields, when oats was added to the feed grain program, and the rules used in subsequent years every time a new/changed program required establishing yields for a crop.

FSA doesn't have a great record in putting handbooks out timely--back in the 1960's county employees were complaining bitterly about having to operate from a bunch of notices, rather than one handbook. So I'd advise Mr. Clayton to keep watch on the notices on the FSA website.

Heritage Agrees: Bush Site Is Poor

I've made some adverse comments in the past about the regulations.gov site the Bush administration touted as part of their e-government initiative. Heritage agrees it's not good:

Davis said the official Web site for submitting comments electronically, Regulations.gov, is hard to navigate. "If you go to Regulations.gov, that Web site is inherently confusing. It's a travesty, really," she said. "We have set up a system where [citizens] don't have to worry about remembering the docket number."

Of course, regardless of how good a process to submit comments you have, the $64,000 question is whether the comments have any value and whether they are used by the agency in any worthwhile manner.

FSA's Friend, Prof. Barnaby

Art Barnaby said:

“Barnaby also reminded producers to have patience with the FSA and USDA staff when it comes time for the sign-up. Barnaby reiterated that the ACRE and SURE programs are very complicated and that important details have been slow to be defined or left to the USDA Secretary to define.”

NRCS Ahead of FSA

NRCS has had its new head designated for 10 days now, but not FSA.

Life's Worse for the Poor

Here's an example of the title one (i.e., one who is white, middle class, and suburban) would never think of--a map showing locations of commuter-child accidents in downtown Detroit.

Prof. Pollan Again

Here's a YouTube interview with Prof. Pollan--where he pushes his views, with his usual mixture of skill and misinformation, helped along by his interviewer.

Boswell, Big Farmer, Corporate Farmer?

The LATimes has an article on the death of James G. Boswell, the California cotton farmer. I remember Boswell from the 1970's, when he was the bulletin board star of the people who attacked big subsidies. He owned 150,000 or 200,000 acres of San Joaquin valley land, growing cotton.

"But even during this period of growth and success for the enterprise, which included diversification into tomatoes and other crops, real estate development and farming in distant Australia, Boswell remained an intensely private man at the head of an intensely private family business."

So, if it's a "family business" it must be a "family farm", no? (His son takes over.) Was Wal-mart a family business, or Mars candy? Was IBM a family business when young Tom Watson replaced his father? Was "Bonanza" a family farm, or at least a family ranch? I don't think so, but it's an interesting continuum.

A Puff Piece for NRCS and FSA

This piece in the Huntingdon, IN paper puffs the NRCS and FSA conservation programs.

George Bush, Life Saver

A piece in the NYTimes today, showing the AIDS program GW got through Congress saved a million lives. (Didn't do well on prevention of HIV, but scored in getting treatments to the infected.) A credit to be kept in mind when trying to strike a balance sheet on our ex-President. And a reminder government can make a difference.

Dan McGlynn Makes the Headlines, or Foodies Don't Read

Obama Foodorama tears USDA up, mentioning poor Dan by name (disclosure: a former co-worker). Seems Monday was the last day for comments on the interim payment limitation regulations, Dan's name was on the document to receive comments (he's acting division chief until the Dems get their people in place), he was on vacation Thursday and Friday, and his mailbox got full.

The anger was understandable (at least, if one assumes the comments would be important in any decisions. That's not an assumption I would make, however.)

The Foodorama outburst is interesting as just another instance of the old IT rule: "When in doubt, read the [manual] instructions." The regulations.gov posting of the interim rule says: "You may submit comments by any of the following methods: E-mail: Dan.McGlynn@wdc.usda.gov. Fax: (202) 690-2130. Mail: Dan McGlynn, Acting Director, Production, Emergencies and Compliance Division, FSA, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Stop 0517, Room 4754, 1400 Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC 20250-0517. Hand Delivery or Courier: Deliver comments to the above address. Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http:// www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments [emphasis added].

So it was possible for people to submit their comments, even though FSA's IT people didn't anticipate the volume of comments coming to Dan's inbox. I retain my dark suspicions of the regulations.gov website and process--I suspect it was a Bush admin add-on which never got integrated into the regulations process in the agencies, as in FSA. (Just as the Obama admin will have some ideas which get added on and not integrated into the bureaucratic process.)

American Farmers More Regimented than Brits?

By now I expect most counties have implemented their 911 program, including the assigning of street names and house numbers to farm residences. But in Britain, apparently, they resist the numbering. At least, that's my inference from this BBC story:

A new campaign is urging people in rural Denbighshire to display the names and numbers of their homes properly in order to help the emergency services. When responding to 999 calls officers and paramedics say they are often hampered because many farms and houses do not have names or numbers on them.

Just Another Transition in the Bureaucracy

Politics and bureaucracy combine as the state directors of FSA and RD, some at least, transition, as here in MN. I'd say this is fairly typical--civilized changeover, people with some political connection and connection to the bureaucracy. (Though I do remember one political appointee in DC who got drunk, maybe at the Christmas party after the election which his party lost, and hurled his furniture out the window.)

Sugar, a Program Reformers Can't Stand

One of the farm programs which gets lots of criticism is the sugar program. It protects domestic sugarcane and sugar beet growers by supporting the price of sugar and limiting the allowable imports. The program dates way back, and has survived attempts to reform it. Today FSA published the final regulations for the program through 2012.

Highway Safety

From MSNBC, a report highway deaths are the lowest since 1961 (when population was probably 170,000,000 and I suspect we drove less per person:

The recession and $4 per gallon gas meant people drove less to save more. Experts also cited record high seat belt use, tighter enforcement of drunken driving laws and the work of advocacy groups that encourage safer driving habits.

Safety is the interplay of many factors, most of which are ignored in the piece. As an ex-bureaucrat, I'd point to the fact government bureaucrats contributed to the following:

safer roads (I've only to mention NY rte 369 as an example)
safer cars (particularly seat belts and air bags)
safer drivers (better licensing rules)

The biggest contribution may have been simply educational, collecting statistics and doing crash tests. It's a long time since Robert McNamara's Ford Motors tried and failed to sell safety to the consumer.

Of course, I don't want to go overboard on crediting bureaucrats; the fact remains that at least 85 percent of American drivers are above average.

Once upon a time:

From Charles Reich's memories of his 1950's law work:

[What] I remember best was proofreading. Stock and bond certificates had to be perfect. Much of their text was printed in tiny type. Often the printing was on a tight schedule and had to be completed at Ad Press late at night.

The proofreader's job was a serious responsibility. No one was too high up for this task. Mr. Swatland seemed to relish doing this himself before any document left the office, no matter how many other lawyers had already given their approval. For the associates, proofreading was a two-person job, with one reading aloud every syllable, capital letter and punctuation mark, so that the reading sounded like a special language: "This Debenture, two initial caps, com," and so forth.

I remember this as well. When you don't have word processing equipment that channels your writing into patterns and formats, when you have to deal with carbon paper for copies and white out for corrections, when you don't have a spellchecker, and when you have to retype each version from scratch, proofing becomes a priority.

Government Stimulus Works

A NYTimes piece on Gov. Bobby Jindal's Louisiana, Jindal being a spokesman for the idea that government stimulus spending is ineffective, in today's papers. It notes the unemployment rate in LA is below the national average. A tribute to Jindal's economic philosophy? No, a reflection of the Federal dollars flowing to LA post-Katrina.

$200 for a Bat?

We're not in the 20th century anymore. (That was a price I noted for a softball bat in a advertising circular--I assume the bat's aluminum, not the wood of my childhood.)

FSA and Texting

Those forward-looking people at FSA are looking at Web 2.0. From a Nextgov post.

Jeff Kerby, Web manager for the Agriculture Department's Farm Service Agency, which provides loans and subsidy payments to farmers, said the agency recently has begun testing how social networking could be used. He and other technology managers at FSA are analyzing how the agency could text the latest crop prices to farmers every morning so they don't have to come into the county office to look up the information. "They're receptive," Kerby said. "It's a matter of getting them used to it."

Whoopsie, USDA Press Screwup

Or maybe it's the Rural Information Center's error. Anyhow, they posted links to the transcript of Michelle Obama's visit to USDA (yes, that was 6 weeks ago) and to President Bush's acceptance of Secretary Johann's resignation. The latter was dated 1/21/09 by USDA, but my memory is he resigned last summer to run for (and win) a Senatorial seat, so it's likely 6 months old.

News From Front Street

The shooting in Binghamton, NY brings some sociological observations:

The NY Times reports Binghamton is a city of 48,000. It was about 80,000 when I grew up 12 miles outside. The shoe factories of EJ were the biggest employers, being responsible for the presence of lots of eastern European immigrants. EJ shod the Army during WWI and II, but is now not a factor.

The Daily News reports: More than 7,100 immigrants have settled in Binghamton since 2005, 71% from Asian countries, according to city statistics. If true, it's likely because the housing is cheap. Utica, another rust belt city in NY, has also seen lots of immigrants for similar reasons. [Revised--this seems too high to me.]

Binghamton University achieved a little infamy because its basketball team made NCAA (and Tony Kornhauser is an alumnus, though I think it was called "Harpur College" then) and its graduation rate of its players was abysmal.

An Administration Failure on Pay Limits

The NYTimes has a front page story on the failure of the Obama administration to get support for its ill-conceived changes to payment limitation. It shows the problems in hitting the ground running for a new administration. To the city slickers, even including OMB director Orzag, it sounded good. But I'm sure they didn't check with the remaining division directors and branch chiefs in FSA for a reality check. And apparently, John Berge, who's supposed to be the White House liaison to USDA and a former FSA state director, wasn't consulted. I doubt the White House checked with any of the "reformers" in agriculture, those who want to reduce payments. If they did, I'm not confident people like EWG would have spotted the problem. That's why you need bureaucrats, to give a reasonably objective appraisal of the pluses and minuses of a policy proposal.

The problem is that reputation is almost all you have in DC--if you're known as someone who knows her business and keeps her promises, you have clout. Screw up, and that becomes your reputation and your clout dwindles.

Who's Tending the Garden?

While Michelle is hugging the Queen and otherwise stunning the Brits (see here). Who's getting the kids out into the garden and planting those seeds? Time is slipping fast; a day lost now is forever gone.

By way of comparison, our (i.e., wife's) peas, lettuce, onion sets, radishes, etc. have sprouted and we're probably 10 days behind the White House. If their peas aren't planted and showing by now, it's going to be tough on them--our weather gets hot. Or maybe the Obamas are like so many in our community plots--an early burst of enthusiasm followed by distractions. Like the Queen.

IPhone a Model for Feds

Technology Review carries a piece suggesting that an electronic health record system, sponsored by the government, should be modeled on the IPhone:

Their approach is modeled on successful IT products outside of health care, including the iPhone and Facebook, which rely on innovative applications from third-party programmers. Mandl and Kohane propose what they call a platform approach, in which EHR vendors sell a flexible, basic platform that is designed to work with components from other vendors, much as the iPhone works with applications made by a myriad of third-party developers.

I'm really out of my depth here, but it seems just a little facile. I'm not clear that either Apple or Facebook started out with the idea they were doing a "platform"--they did something, they made it open, and the snowball started rolling. It's possible a software package that established identity, privacy, and security, sponsored by the government could work. Indeed, in systems terms we already have a government sponsored system for identity (i.e. birth certificates, drivers licenses, death certificates, green cards, etc.) which is the basis for most of commerce.

Plain English--Been There, Done That

Government Executive reports on a "plain English" bill-requiring gov documents to be written in such.

I recall Jimmy Carter had the same thought. As a matter of fact, if I had the energy I suspect I could find there's still a requirement that regulations, to be published in the Federal Register, must be accompanied by a certification that they are in plain English. (That was back in the day when part of my area of supervision was the processing of documents to the Register.)

Offloading FSA Data into Your PC?

Here's a post on a test of allowing Medicare patients to offload their claim records into Google Health. So why not allow farmers to offload data from FSA to their PC?

Genealogy and History

I do some genealogy and am a failed historian. So this series by Errol Morris at NYTimes looks promising. It's a 5-part series on how a picture of 3 children found on the Gettysburg battlefield was used to identify a dead soldier.

The Office of Circumlocution

Watched Little Dorrit (Masterpiece Theater) on Sunday. As a bureaucrat, I particularly enjoyed Robert Hardy's bit as head of the Office of Circumlocution. (Reminded me of John Cleese and the Ministry of Silly Walks.)

How To Misunderstand USDA

The Obama Foodorama figures the taxpayer is paying thrice for the non-fat dry milk Vilsack announced the other day. Because their sources specify the NDM is being moved from CCC inventory to the school lunch program (FNS), I don't see how they misunderstood this, but they did. I guess it helps to have some background in the area. Buying milk products is the basic way USDA supports milk prices. Moving the NDM from CCC to school lunches reduces the stockpile but doesn't have much impact on prices.

New Dairy in Idaho

I knew the dairy industry in California had exploded since my days on the farm, but I wasn't aware the same change had come to Idaho. (Not sure whether it's the Dutch moving there, or those fleeing CA, or potato producers deciding to do some real farming for a change.)

This sentence has a nice euphemism for "made into hamburger":

"Since the buyouts began five years ago, the National Milk Producers Federation has shifted 275,269 dairy cows, including 75,000 in the last 12 months, into the beef industry."

What's This About?

Got an appeal from the kennedy-center for a woman-oriented event (I didn't read it closely). I did note what I thought was an interesting discrepancy. The women sponsoring the appeal were listed as:

Mrs. Michelle Obama
Mrs. Laura Bush
Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton
Mrs. George Bush
Mrs. Ronald Reagan
Mrs. Jimmy Carter

Now what is this? Why do our most recent first ladies use their first name, while the older ones use their husband's? Have we dissolved all rules of manners pertaining to women's names? And why didn't Laura and Michelle keep their maiden names? And what is a "maiden" anyway? Old geezers want to know.

Diversity at USDA--Not

I should have noted in my post on the diversity of Vilsack's staff appointments the lack of diversity in another respect: these are young whippersnappers most of whom served in staff positions on Capitol Hill or in political campaigns. In other words, the same backgrounds as staffers have had for many years. So the gender/ethnic diversity they represent shows the diversity of the political areas they come from, but there's no diversity in terms of occupational background: no organic farmer, no industrial farmer, no foodie, etc. etc.

Diversity at USDA

I missed this Post piece on Vilsack's staff appointments. I'm struck by the number (ever compare the USDA phone directory from 1963 to now) and their diversity. In 1963 it was all white males; today much more diverse.

Vilsack and Management

Government Executive says Vilsack wants performance-oriented management, IT, and new workers. On the second:

Vilsack also said that he and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, D-Minn., both understand that achieving good performance at USDA requires modern technology. "It is frustrating to farmers and ranchers who want to be able to access information that we are still in a more paper orientation than a technology orientation. It is also frustrating that it seems to people it takes forever to implement the farm bill and the recovery and investment act, because we have to rewrite old, old software so that it is available to calculate the new programs."

Vilsack wants to measure results. The problem I have is definitions. Federal programs float in a penumbra of rhetoric, emanating from the over-promising of politicians. If a bureaucrat is realistic about what could be achieved, it automatically undermines her bosses.

It's a Big, Multi-lingual Country--LA's Trahan

CED from Louisiana retires after 41 years--his language ability helped with the French/Cajun farmers and he's honored in the Acadian Hall of Fame.