Vermont Agency of Agriculture (AoA) Secretary Steve Kerr resigned yesterday. Lets all have a big hand for the man! He has been under tremendous pressure this past year. Mr. Kerr has been noted and reviled for his support of Big Ag, antagonism towards small farmers and homesteaders as well as his push for mandatory Animal ID and Premises ID.
Let all us take a moment to remember this fearless leader and his lies…
On December 20th, 2005 Mr. Kerr was noted for saying that he would be taking it all the way to the back yard:
“The price of animal health is eternal vigilance,” Kerr said.“We need to make this mandatory in Vermont,” Kerr said. “In my opinion, we need to make this mandatory to the backyard level.”
-Rutland Herald
In March Mr. Kerr backed down from his mandatory push for NAIS. In a major revision of his position he testified he and the AoA was just pushing for mandatory Premises ID and that he would have it in place by June. The Vermont legislators told him to slow down and actually get input from Vermonters. Whoa - novel concept! This led to a series of hearings over the summers where over 95% of the testimony given was anti-NAIS and anti-Premises ID. Mr. Kerr got an ear full. Vermonters don’t want more government intervention in their lives.
Later in March an AoA memo dated February 1, 2006 surfaced and was verified by the AoA. This interesting communiqué demonstrated that the AoA was promoting not just Premises ID but also mandatory Animal ID and NAIS. This conflicted with testimony made by Kerr and his representatives before the Vermont House and Senate Agriculture Committees where they repeatedly said, “all we want is to know where the farms are, just Premises ID, trust us…”
In June Mr. Kerr was quoted as saying, “that animal identification and tracking (are) not in the best interests of Vermont”. At this point the official position of the Agency of Agriculture is that there will be no mandatory Animal Identification or NAIS in Vermont. This makes Vermont the first state in the nation to ban NAIS and say “No!” to the dreaded Darth USDA.
In the end of August Kerr gave up on mandatory Premises ID, for now in the face of overwhelming opposition to the program.
Kerr served the small number of big farmers that represented 85% of the economic output of our state’s agriculture according to his own testimony before the Vermont House Agriculture Committee. The problem is they only represent a tiny number of farmers. We live by a One Person - One Vote rule. Just because the big farms produce more does not mean they should get any more say in how our government is run. Just because they represent more economic activity does not mean they should get favorable treatment. The small farmers, the micro-farmers, the homesteaders, the pet livestock owners and the consumers in Vermont far out number Big Ag by many orders of magnitude. The Vermont Department of Agriculture should be serving all of us, not just a few, select big dairies, egg factory and turkey producer.
Now for the million dollar question… Who will replace Steve Kerr and will the new boss be just like the old boss? Or perhaps, dare we dream a little, might the new Vermont Secretary of Agriculture actually be friendly and supportive of small, local farmers and homesteaders, a protector of our traditional rights to farm?
Hat tip to the little birdie
Congrats VT! You deserve a big hug!
You efforts are leading the way for the rest of us.
::I may have to move there::
Comment Breederville — November 9, 2006 @ 7:50 pm
Why did he resign?
…If they’re interviewing for the job Walter, maybe you should send them a resume. You’re more qualified than many other government appointees we’ve had in the past. We know you’ll represent the people. Come to think of it, that representing the people thing might disqualify you, you think?
Comment Bob Constantine — November 9, 2006 @ 7:53 pm
I am certainly going to move to Vermont if N.H. tries anything “stupid”
Comment Carlene Wheeler — November 9, 2006 @ 8:55 pm
Hey Walter, maybe you should apply for the job!
Comment Jason — November 9, 2006 @ 9:12 pm
Just heard on FoxNews, 6:13:17 AM EST, that Howard Dean may step down.
Comment Breederville — November 10, 2006 @ 5:42 am
The Ag Depts mixxed of media man in resonsiple for bullshit shuffling Mark Bosma is also gone. He made so many goops and goof ups at ag they moved him over to winter emergancy managmt - something Vermonters already know all about and maybe he will do les harm.
We have a budget crisis. I would lke to offer the sacrifice of these unneeded jobs to help save money.
Comment PV — November 10, 2006 @ 6:27 am
link
According to the Times Argus this morning, David Lane will be stepping up to replace Steve Kerr for now, though he isn’t sure if he will seek the job permanently.
I thought I might apply for the job, but if you think Walter would be better, I’m all for it!
One more note, someone sent me a scan of an article that was written by Mark Bosma under the byline of the Vermont Emergency Management. Has he left also or does the Public Information Officer fill many shoes?
Sharon
[I second the motion of Sharon for Secretary of Agriculture. -WalterJ]
Comment Henwhisperer — November 10, 2006 @ 6:39 am
Well, after the last election, the expected (by me) glee of Jorge Arbusto (George Bush) to be “working with” the other party, any lawyers we have in the NoNAIS orbit need to start sharpening their pencils and picking the judges, because the legislative way to end it at the federal level just died.
Comment Kamatu — November 10, 2006 @ 6:47 am
Congrats!
Comment Sofia — November 10, 2006 @ 7:01 am
1. Wish ya could place these articles higher in this white section…it always looks as tho’ there’s nothing here when this part of your site pops up…then I must scroll wayyyyy down to locate the article. Is this normal? I personally don’t mind anymore as I know this is what I’ll need to do…BUT I don’t think people to whom I forward your articles would know to do this. (I wrote this here ’cause I can’t locate your email spot…sorry!)
[My guess is you are using Windows Internet Explorer 6 as your browser. That program from Microsoft has a bug in it that makes it not handle some web pages properly. What you are seeing is a symptom of that bug when it is not handling box bounding conflicts properly. For example, when someone leaves a comment with a long link and I forget to correct it the problem occurs. If you can give me the link to the page (article or main site) I might be able to find the long link. Even better, if you switch to FireFox, Opera, Safari or some other non-Microsoft web browser this web site and many others will look better. Please note the disclaimer at the very bottom - “This web site looks worst in Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 under Microsoft Windows.” I have heard from a few people that Explorer 7 is not exhibiting the problem so upgrading to that might fix the problem for you. If you are using a different browser than Internet Explorer 6 under Windows then please let me know. -WJ]
2. Yes, Walter…run for President! And more people like ‘ya!!! Congrats on this ‘win’ and it crossed my mind too as I was reading this to also move to VT. (smile). Free at last…thank God almighty, you’re free at last…at least for the time being! Happy day……..
[No way! Remember when Ross Perot ran for President?!? I would be a far worse candidate. I would not appreciate the limelight. I’ve got a life and family. Someone has to be more than half mad to want to run for President. -WJ]
Comment Lynn Maust — November 10, 2006 @ 2:08 pm
oooppps…forgot to sign off my current note of sev. minutes ago…it’s from ‘Lindeelou’…OK?
Comment Lynn Maust — November 10, 2006 @ 2:10 pm
Go for it Sharon, I’ll vote fer you.
respects, Wm
If you’re seeing this I must be human after all, YIPPEE
Comment Mr Dirty Nails — November 10, 2006 @ 10:34 pm
“Vermonters don’t want more government intervention in their lives”.
The situation in PA has some similarities. Our Secretary of Ag, Dennis Wolff, has also stated that premise id is the only goal for the PDA, and that premise identification in PA is not related to the NAIS.
Yet, the PDA web page has only recently linked the premise id program to something called PA Farms.
pafarms.org
PA Farms is a Penn State affiliated program that makes no secret of the association of premise id and the full implementation of the NAIS.
What does it mean for the opposition in PA that Penn State University is so involved in the premise registration/id program? We have to fight the PDA as well as the prestigious University.
While we appreciate and admire the success of the people of Vermont in fighting premise id, we think that our battle here is going to be tougher because of the participation of Penn State University as a major proponent of the NAIS.
Walter…I would love to hear your opinion re: the Penn State factor and any advice you might offer for fighting the good fight on two fronts!
We can contact our state officials and maybe we can even persuade some of them to “slow down” the process. But how can we possibly hope to “slow down” the Penn State University?
Comment Neil W. — November 11, 2006 @ 12:54 am
#13 - Unfortunately, it looks like all the University’s that accept federal money may be involved in promoting NAIS. So not only are we fighting Dept. of Ag’s, Farm Bureau, & State Vet’s, but also universities and extension agents.
See the paragraph below in Perspectives Magazine from the University of Michigian, showing Monsanto providing funds for a dairy internship.
It is located on Page 37. I am unable to copy a link to it, but have posted it in “files” at Americans_against_NAIS yahoo group site.
“MONSANTO DAIRY BUSINESS has made a pledge to support the large dairy herd intern position at the MSU Training Center for Dairy Professionals.”
Comment Valerie — November 11, 2006 @ 5:25 pm
Shouldn’t this be called NoNAzIS.org?
Comment Mike Rogers — November 13, 2006 @ 8:33 am
I called the Governor’s office today to inquire about the process used to find and appoint a new Secretary. I was transferered to the Governor’s Information Office and get this!!!! They didn’t know the answer. UUF DA. I was gobsmacked that they didn’t know. (/sarcasm)
So the woman on the phone said they would research it and, get this…get back to me! I am so jaded, it shames me.
11:21 pm…nope no return call.
Yup…so dependable, the government.
Comment Henwhisperer — November 13, 2006 @ 10:22 pm
the general has just changed not the not the war. all state universites are under the control of the usda.all of the county agents,4h agents,any one who works in extension is under the control of the usda.part of there pay comes from the usda ,part from the state and part from the county,they work for the govt..they are told what to say and what to do even it goes against what they believe is rite or wrong.so dont be to hard on them.they just bring the message,they didnt write it.
Comment nick lecompte — November 14, 2006 @ 5:27 am
SPAM DELETED
Comment Simon — February 22, 2007 @ 12:25 am