New Farmer in Chief

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman, who announced her resignation last month, emerged early on as a strong, competent and articulate voice on farm subsidies, forest fires and the like. Sadly, that voice faded on these and other key issues as Veneman toed the administration’s policy line.

At a World Trade Organization meeting in 2001, Veneman said the U.S. was committed to curtailing farm subsidies -- and did nothing a year later as farm subsidies swelled by tens of billions of dollars. Those subsidies drain the federal budget and substantially harm free-trade talks with poor countries whose farmers are drowning amid a flood of subsidized U.S. agricultural products.

Veneman announced plans a year ago for increased cattle testing and a national ID system to track the nation’s beef lots, swift decisions just weeks after mad cow disease was found in a Holstein in Washington state. But the tracking system never happened, and in April, Veneman prohibited a beef producer in Kansas from voluntarily testing all of its cattle for the disease.

After initial strong steps to help prevent forest fires while preserving old-growth trees, Veneman switched gears to support initiatives that would promote logging of the older, more fire-resistant trees. Her directives on organic labeling earlier this year were so poorly drawn, even nonsensical -- for instance, all seafood, regardless of its source or whether it contained toxins, would have been labeled “organic” -- that she withdrew them a month later.

President Bush’s nominee for the post, Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns, is, like Veneman, the product of a farming background -- a family dairy -- and starts with a reputation for fiscal conservatism, intense interest in free trade and a certain independent-mindedness. When the farm bill is reconsidered in 2007, those three qualities should have him arguing against continuing the disastrous subsidies. But Johanns also is a champion of ethanol produced from corn, one of the great U.S. subsidy boondoggles. It will be interesting to see where these warring priorities lead. Coming from a beef-producing state, Johanns should understand the need to protect the public and the industry from disease. He should waste no time implementing the beef-tracking system and encouraging beef producers to take their own stronger steps toward testing and otherwise ensuring that their cattle are healthy.

The U.S. needs rigorous rules for labeling organic and genetically modified foods. Johanns also could do the nation’s forests a favor by taking a new look at efforts to undermine the roadless rule, which protects millions of pristine acres from road-building, logging and other industrial degradation.

Agriculture may not be one of the glamorous Cabinet posts, but it’s a huge job with more than 100,000 staff members and an $80-billion annual budget, and public safety is among its responsibilities. Veneman has left plenty of room for Johanns to make a positive mark.