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View Full Version : "Rural America becoming less relevant" - USDA Chief




Matt Collins
12-09-2012, 02:20 PM
http://www.theleafchronicle.com/viewart/20121208/NEWS01/312080023/USDA-chief-Rural-America-becoming-less-relevant

james1844
12-09-2012, 07:19 PM
http://www.theleafchronicle.com/viewart/20121208/NEWS01/312080023/USDA-chief-Rural-America-becoming-less-relevant

I'm not at all surprised to hear that. I think that Tom Vilsak is part of the problem.

I was working in Afghanistan a couple of years back. At the camp where I was stationed there was a big USDA meeting. Tom Vilsak had a video address to the USDA staff who were meeting at the place. I had the distinct impression the guy was out of touch and going through the motions. Which is kind of a pity because his staff was risking their lives when they traveled to hear him speak.

liberty2897
12-09-2012, 09:26 PM
Feeding and clothing 300 million people from urban roof-tops would be kind of like paying down 16-trillion dollars + interest while fighting multiple wars and bailing out bankers. It isn't rural America that is becoming irrelevant...

http://www.asla.org/2010awards/images/smallscale/377_01.jpg

heavenlyboy34
12-09-2012, 09:34 PM
LOFL! Let's see Mr Vilsack try living for a while without "Rural America". Those concrete jungles are never going to grow enough food to feed the city folk, even with all the hydroponics and gadgetry in the country.

tod evans
12-10-2012, 02:42 AM
As a country dweller I'm here to say that those of us out here in the sticks can survive much better without city folk than city folk can without us.

I for one would gladly sever all ties with every city, build some walls and lets see how it turns out...

liberalnurse
12-10-2012, 03:15 AM
As a country dweller I'm here to say that those of us out here in the sticks can survive much better without city folk than city folk can without us.

I for one would gladly sever all ties with every city, build some walls and lets see how it turns out... Same here. :) +rep

GuerrillaXXI
12-10-2012, 03:19 AM
You couldn't pay me enough to live in most modern cities, which are steadily being turned into concentration camps. I'd rather live with trees around me than CCTV cameras, thank you very much.

At the same time, it's undoubtedly the case that the centers of any nation's political power are its cities.

youngbuck
12-10-2012, 09:10 AM
The thread title is misleading. Here is the USDA Chief's actual statement:


“Why is it that we don’t have a farm bill?” Vilsack asked. “It isn’t just the differences of policy. It’s the fact that rural America, with a shrinking population, is becoming less and less relevant to the politics of this country, and we had better recognize that and we better begin to reverse it.”