Quote of the Day: Jury Still Out on Obama

Is the organic vegetable garden on the White House lawn just a symbolic gesture? Is President Obama's support of sustainable food more than idle talk? A Salon.com article by Mike Maddon discusses the Obama administration's supposed commitment to organic and sustainable food, observing that the reauthorization of the school lunch program will be an opportunity for President Obama to put his legislation where his mouth is.

Before President Barack Obama took office, the progressive food community was in such a frenzy expecting changes in the way Americans think about, grow, buy and eat their food that more than a dozen famous chefs threw a dinner party the night before his inauguration to celebrate. Obama had paid slightly more attention to food policy on the campaign trail than most other recent presidential nominees, pledging to help support small independent farmers, not massive corporate agribusinesses. Six months later, though, the garden is probably the most significant step the administration has taken toward the broad goals the campaign laid out last year.

"We think that the jury is definitely still out," said Ferd Hofner, policy director at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, a Washington-based group that's pushing for more federal support for local food systems and farming techniques that don't harm the environment. "There have been a lot of atmospherics, but only a few substantive things so far ... We're feeling fairly positive that stuff is on the way -- we're just not entirely sure when it's going to be unveiled."

-Mark

[Photo from the official White House Flickr photostream]