Senator Gillibrand Wows Amagansett at Farm Bill 2012 Listening Session
Last Sunday morning, despite torrents of rain, more than 100 farmers, chefs, winemakers and concerned eaters packed into the barn at Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett to share coffee and berry cobbler and to meet Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. And when the Senator stepped out of her car and onto a Ronnybrook milk crate to address the crowd, a blast of freshness and enthusiasm swept over the humid room, accented by the braids of just harvested garlic drying in the rafters.
Part of a recent series of listening sessions Gillibrand has been holding throughout the state in anticipation of next year’s renewal of our nation’s major food and farming policy, the Farm Bill, this South Fork stop included rapid-fire questions and discussion on everything from factory farming (and how to replace it) to military operations in Afghanistan (and how growing food could be part of the healing process for veterans).
Among the major themes the Senator discussed were the security implications of food and how we grow it, why we should reward farmers for conservation not production, and how a food-related fix might reduce our healthcare liabilities while putting money in the pockets of farmers and the American public.
“The more I developed my understanding of agriculture the more I see it as a security issue,” Gillibrand said, listing recent, large-scale food recalls in America (spinach, peanut butter, red meat), as well as food tainting scandals in China. “It occurred to me that I don’t ever want to get my food from as far away as China. We have a wholesome food economy in New York and we want to support and enhance that. You would not want just one large part of this country, like California, to be relegated to food. We don’t want to be on the path to outsourcing a part of food production.”
Gillibrand envisions a different path—one defined more by “wellgrown food” that is an integral part of economies throughout the country. As the first New York Senator, in nearly four decades, to sit on the powerful Agriculture Committee, she may be in a good position to make that shift happen.
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