Words matter. These are the best Tom Vilsack Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
Now our job, our duty, our responsibility to ensure the safety and security of our citizens cannot be complete unless we guarantee health care security for our citizens.
What Republicans have done in my view is that they are systematically dismantling a sense of community in America.
I wish I could give you all the examples over the last two years as secretary of agriculture, where I hear people in rural America constantly being criticized, without any expression of appreciation for what they do do.
In his first year in office, President Obama pulled us back from the brink of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression and worked to lay a new foundation for economic growth. The president identified three key strategies to build that lasting prosperity: innovation, investment, and education.
The future of healthcare security should include flexibility from the federal government to allow us to serve the state’s most vulnerable citizens.
Democrats have always historically referred to our families as working families, and I have sort of changed that moniker. I think what we have is a nation of worried families – families that are concerned about job security, families who thought their pensions were secure and now have questions.
The rise of childhood obesity has placed the health of an entire generation at risk.
I don’t care what anybody says: Nothing is better than a tomato you grow. There’s something about it that’s different than a tomato you can buy. It’s a great thing.
In 2011, agricultural exports hit a record high and producers saw their best incomes in nearly 40 years.
In the past 40 years, the United States lost more than a million farmers and ranchers. Many of our farmers are aging. Today, only nine percent of family farm income comes from farming, and more and more of our farmers are looking elsewhere for their primary source of income.
Sixteen percent of our population is rural, but 40 percent of our military is rural. I don’t believe that’s because of a lack of opportunity in rural America. I believe that’s because if you grow up in rural America, you know you can’t just keep taking from the land. You’ve got to give something back.
If I had a rain prayer or a rain dance I could do, I would do it.
We have a long tradition in this state of caring for our neighbors – it is truly an Iowa value.
The lack of access to proper nutrition is not only fueling obesity, it is leading to food insecurity and hunger among our children.
When you’ve paid your debt to society, you need to be reconnected and re-engaged in society.
The Obama administration will continue to fight for a comprehensive immigration solution that includes AgJobs and a stable workforce for our farms.
To help producers serve larger institutional customers like schools and hospitals, USDA has helped fund new regional infrastructure like cold storage warehouses, commercial kitchens and local slaughter facilities.
Technology has allowed us to have more drought-resistant crops. The spotty nature of drought, the spotty nature of rains can sometimes result in better yields than anticipated.
There are a lot of farmers and ranchers who are struggling. I get on my knees every day. If I had a rain prayer or a rain dance I could do, I would do it.
USDA is committed to keeping pace with the needs and progress of American agriculture by supporting new markets and movements that will keep farmers profitable and help create middle class jobs across the country.
Today, President Obama is making smart investments in clean energy – wind, solar, biofuels – as part of an all-of-the-above energy strategy that supports thousands of jobs, not in the Middle East, but in the Midwest.
Proper school nutrition must be complemented by activities outside of the cafeteria. The decisions parents make to keep their kids healthy are critical in fighting this battle on the home front.
If we can get people to focus on fruits and vegetables and more healthy foods, we’ll be better in terms of our healthcare situation.
One out of every 12 jobs in the economy is connected in some way, shape or form to what happens on the farm.
To keep farmers on the farm we must maintain a strong farm safety net, but we will also have to build a thriving companion economy to compliment production agriculture in rural America.
I don’t know if there is a Democrat who necessarily doesn’t believe health care is a right instead of privilege. There is a significant between us and the Republican Party on that issue.
I grew up in a city. My parents would think there was something wrong with America if they knew I was secretary of agriculture.
Food is a fairly significant aspect of my life. I have struggled mightily with food. With my weight. And I’m conscious of it. So I have a sensitivity to people who struggle with their weight.
Rural Americans want leaders who help middle-class communities to plan and prosper over the long-term – not opportunists who reap the rewards for themselves, leaving nothing for the people who do the sowing.
More than half of America’s rural counties are losing population and with it, political representation.
The food pyramid is very complicated. It doesn’t give you as much info in a quick glance as the plate does.
If you think of what food is, it’s the energy we use to do our daily work. I want people to know about the USDA. This is a very important department. It’s not fully appreciated as such.
Although they are some of the hardest working folks I know, rural Americans earn, on average, $11,000 less than their urban counterparts each year. And they are more likely to live in poverty.
This is an exciting time for farmers and ranchers of all types and sizes as agriculture is a bright spot in the American economy. In 2011, agricultural exports hit a record high and producers saw their best incomes in nearly 40 years.
I think we all share the same goal, which is a United States of America that inspires people and leads.
