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Saturday, October 31, 2009

Ag Programs Must Embrace Civil Rights

By Tom Vilsack
Secretary of Agriculture
          I recently traveled to New Mexico as part of President Obama's Rural Tour to listen to the people of Las Cruces talk about how the USDA and Obama Administration can rebuild and revitalize rural America. It was my 21st Rural Tour forum this year in communities across the country. Each forum has reinforced my belief that rural Americans have great ideas for the future of their communities.
        President Obama and the USDA are committed to helping rural communities throughout the nation become self-sustaining, repopulating and thriving economically. What we have been seeing and hearing on this tour shows me that there are more opportunities today to strengthen communities across rural America than at any time in decades. And New Mexico stands out because unlike many states and parts of the country, the agriculture sector is growing.
        Many of the people who attended expressed concerns about the hardships facing the dairy industry. At USDA, we are providing Milk Income Loss Contract payments, donating surplus products to nutrition programs and utilizing the Dairy Export Incentive Program to promote dairy exports and ensure that the dairy industry continues for generations to come. I also heard about the need for continued support and funding resources as rural entrepreneurs branch out into alternative areas of production such as pistachios, grapes and avocados.
        While it is important to look to all the future holds, I also expressed my commitment to confronting our past: USDA's checkered history on civil rights. Let me be clear, this administration has made civil rights a top priority and that is why we are implementing a comprehensive program to take definitive action to improve the civil rights environment at USDA. We must correct past errors, learn from mistakes, and move USDA into a new era as a model employer and premier service provider.
        In April, I released a memorandum detailing an aggressive plan to ensure that the civil rights of USDA constituents, customers and employees are respected and protected. USDA has created a task force to conduct a review of civil rights complaints that have been processed or are currently being processed. I have granted greater authority to USDA's Office of Civil Rights to create a single database of complaints across USDA and to develop policy and training to ensure that all complaints are received and dealt with in a consistent and timely manner within a specific timeframe. Justice delayed is justice denied.
        I have also ordered an external, independent analysis of program delivery across USDA agencies and field offices ranging from the Farm Service Agency to Rural Development. The analysis will provide specific recommendations and actions to ensure that programs are delivered equitably and that access is afforded to all constituents, with particular emphasis on socially disadvantaged farmers, ranchers and other constituents. This renewed commitment to equal access is a sign that in the Obama administration, no one will be left behind.
        The road ahead will be a challenging one, but we are committed to rebuilding and revitalizing rural America so it is a place where all people can prosper. And as we recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression, the primary goal for this administration is the creation of new jobs. We've already begun by investing in our communities — education and nutrition, rural development and broadband, conservation and clean energy — with the Recovery Act. We are working to build a rural America with the opportunities that convince the young people I met in Las Cruces that the small communities they grew up in are still the best place in the country to raise a family.
        In order to accomplish these goals, we are going to need the ingenuity, innovation and, most of all, the involvement of the people of New Mexico to rebuild and revitalize their state. That's how change happens — because Americans from every corner of this country stand up and face the future unafraid. And if we summon that spirit now, I'm confident we'll look back at this moment and know that we left our children an America even more vibrant and prosperous than the America we inherited from our parents.