Think the school lunch program is “old news”? Think again! Last Friday The Des Moines Register ran an article by Christopher Doering detailing how U.S. Secretary of Ag Tom Vilsack defends new school nutrition guidelines.

The USDA, since 2010, has been phasing in new nutrition guidelines for school lunches to address the childhood obesity epidemic and to help those at risk of going hungry. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 requires lunch programs that receive federal dollars to provide healthier meals. The latest sets new limits for calories, increases whole-grain requirements and lowers sodium levels.

Vilsack “lashed” out at critics of the program for playing politics with our kids, but this is no real surprise and “playing politics” has become the standard argument whenever Congress disagrees with the current Administration. President Obama has even accused our founding fathers of setting up Congress wrong, claiming the Senate should have representation like the House. Think about that one for a couple minutes!

Before I digress too much, let’s take a closer look at Secretary Vilsack’s comments. He says, “I don’t believe that politics and politicians should trump good policy and policy that’s established by experts when it comes to the future of our children.”

Vilsack makes quite the emotionally-charged statement, but fact is, new school guidelines are being criticized by more than politicians. The School Nutrition Association claims over 1 million fewer students are eating school lunches! With fewer students eating the lunches, schools are having trouble covering the costs.

Last week in The Hill, a representative for the School Nutrition Association is quoted as saying 1,445 schools have dropped out of the program since the standards went into effect as costs mount. A House spending bill approved by a subcommittee last Tuesday would force the USDA to give a temporary waiver to school lunch programs that can show they were operating at a net loss for the last six month.

Not only are they operating at a loss in many cases, but schools are having trouble finding some of the required foods. The USDA has confirmed that schools could not find whole-grain pastas that did not fall apart in the giant cauldrons used to prepare school meals, which prompted an announcement last Tuesday by the USDA that it would allow schools to obtain a two-year delay in implementing a whole-grain standard coming into effect.

“The first lady has from day one made the health of our children a top priority, and that means keeping the pressure on to ensure that school nutrition standards already implemented by 90 percent of our schools stay intact,” says White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

“Michelle’s meals turn off kids.” That’s why I’d like to raise these questions:

• Did the experts take food costs and sources into consideration when they developed the new guidelines?
• What about taking regional differences into consideration? There are food items available in larger markets than in rural areas, for example.
• Did anyone think about the alternative to eating school lunch might simply be to skip lunch altogether?

Let’s remember that many low income students receive most of their nutrition at school. Even if they do take the lunch, how much of it are they throwing away? Placing “nutrition” on the plate doesn’t ensure that kids are going to eat it. Kids are being hurt by hunger!

Vilsack’s experts may be experts, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have something to learn!  They need to humble themselves enough to listen. I’m always amazed how much I learn when I listen, but this administration and Sec. Vilsack are doing a very poor job of listening. I strongly feel this IS all about politics and saving face on their part. Let’s make school lunch rules about kids, not politics! Contact your legislators.

Related Posts:

• New School Lunch Regsc, One Hot Potato
• The Quest for a Balanced Diet
• Act Now to Restore Sense to School Lunch Program

America’s “Win All, Lose All” Position Has Led to Invention & Innovation

“Freedom of choice” has been the American Way ever since our forefathers fought – and won – freedom from Great Britain. Little by little, however, our freedoms are being threatened. Obamacare is one case in point.

Believe me, I’m not trying to politicize this issue. I would oppose this U.S. healthcare law regardless of who authored it. As one Iowa congressman wrote, “… the law is not the common sense path our nation should be taking on much needed health care reforms.” It creates instability, restricts patient choice and explodes costs that will hamper the economy. Even the presidents of three of the nation’s largest labor unions, including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, released a letter to Democratic leaders in Congress warning that Obamacare would “shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40-hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.”

Such comments were made before Obamacare became the law of the land. Now we’re seeing how much American’s freedom of choice is being restricted. “We have to break people away from the choice habit that everyone has,” said Marcus Merz, chief executive of PreferredOne, one of the largest Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) in the Upper Midwest.

What’s even more disconcerting to me than limited American’s ability to choose the healthcare plan that best suits their needs is how our government is paying to deceive us! Just last week I watched a video of a worker given a huge government contract to basically do nothing. While she was hired to sign up people for health insurance, she said most days she and her coworkers just sit around talking. They’re told to look busy when inspectors come in to ensure taxpayer money is being spent correctly. They pretend to type, look busy and put on a good show. Talk about government waste at its finest!

When government takes over a business like they have health insurance, the efficiency disappears. That’s just plain economics, and I don’t need a degree to understand.

I have always believed there must be risk for a business to succeed. To succeed big, there must be big risk. There should be the possibility to lose it all because that makes the drive to succeed much greater. “Necessity is the mother of all invention.” The goal of success leads to innovation, too. People have an incentive to try new ways to improve efficiencies and improve their lives. This drive to succeed has made our country great. However, the comfort of everyone being “comfortable” was not a part of making this country great.

The post office is another example of government waste and inefficiency. When there is unlimited tax money to spend – money that wasn’t earned, borrowed or associated with any risk – there’s no incentive to make the business lean.

My trip to Ukraine made it very clear how a country can change by a little push from free enterprise. Where there was risk and effort, that country was making much progress in agriculture. I’m really hoping the current crisis, including protests against corrupt government leaders who have mismanaged the economy, doesn’t ruin all the progress that has been made. Government intervention can undo overnight what it takes a life time to build.

Another example of government intervention being showcased on a morning radio shows is government-owned resorts. Why are we letting government parks and cabins compete with private enterprise? Some of these parks have been made to be super nice, but at what cost to tax payers? Does this resort property pay property taxes? It’s my contention that taxpayer money is being used to create resorts that will take money away from private enterprises, yet private enterprises return a large portion of that money to the U.S. Department of Revenue in the form of taxes.

Government agencies should not be making rules and regulations that control business. Unless America remains “government of the people by the people,” what is happening in Ukraine can and will happen here! We must remain watch dogs for government control.

What’s happening in health care is happening in many other areas of business. Look at banking, investments, and my favorite… agriculture! New water rules by the EPA are a blatant grab for control. EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers proposed the rule in March to clarify which bodies of water — such as wetlands and streams — come under the agencies’ authority to protect under the Clean Water Act. Basically, they want to control every drop of water.

We can’t farm without water. If you don’t believe me, just talk with a California farmer suffering from drought. Water is needed to produce everything from milk, beef and wine to some of the nation’s largest fruit and vegetable crops, including avocados, strawberries and almonds. Because California accounts for one-third of U.S. vegetable output and two-thirds of fruit and nut production, lack of production will increase retail prices. Retail tomato prices jumped 10 percent in the 12 months. U.S. retail prices for beef, bacon, lettuce and broccoli posted double-digit gains last year.

Giving the EPA control agriculture gives the U.S. government control of FOOD! Many governments in this world control their populations by controlling the food supply, and we’re having a huge discussion about food in this country. Consumers want to know where their food comes from and how it’s grown. If we are not careful, you might not have any say about your food. Government control can come a little at a time. Freedom can slip away very silently.

Preserve life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness! Stay informed about the issues. Research political candidates. Exercise your right to vote.

My wife, Janice, and I have been looking through family photos and gathering material to make a historical video for our grandson Zach’s high school graduation present. Seeing all of these old pictures made me reminisce about my farming career.

Growing up, I have fond memories playing with one of those little red wagons. I also remember spending my fair share of time doing chores. Multi-generations were involved on the farm, and I remember learning from my grandfather Jake. Mom had a chicken house full of laying hens that earned grocery money for our growing family that included seven kids. Gathering eggs in a wire basket was something we all learned at an early age!

In addition to fresh eggs, we drank milk from our cows. We also ate home-raised chickens, beef from our own cattle and pork from our hogs. That’s the way it was done.

Farming required lots of manual labor from lots of family members because we didn’t have modern technology! Plowing the ground black was somewhat a source of pride as you were considered doing a bad job of farming if there was a corn stalk showing after you plowed! We spread lots of manure, usually close to the barns because it took too much time with slow tractors to haul it to fields that were further away. No manure management plans were written. We needed lots and lots of tillage to control weeds because there weren’t herbicides and pesticides.

Sounds great… right? Not so!

Even though we used very few chemicals, the wildlife populations were scarce on our farm compared to now. We had more fox and jack rabbits, but I can only remember one deer as a kid.

I also remember seeing so much soil erosion, and black dirt filled the air when the wind blew. Soil filled the ditches, which needed to be cleaned. Each spring we’d have to plow the dirt “drifts” away from the fence rows, and we’d have to fill in gullies that washed through the fields. Yields were pitiful compared to today, too!

Do we want to talk about livestock? The weather was harsh and housing conditions were crude by today’s standards, so I don’t think we even need to go there!

I will say, however, that we thought we were doing a great job of raising food back then. Each year we implemented new ideas, and we got better! Agriculture has continued to evolve. Fast forward to today, and we’re even better. Of course, we’re not perfect but we are better than we were 50 years ago. And you can bet that every year we will continue to get better and better at raising food!

I loved growing up on the farm, but I wouldn’t go back to “the good old days.” We produce much more output (food), with much less input (herbicide, pesticides, erosion). There’s no doubt in my mind that farmers today are doing a much better job of taking care of the environment, our soil, and our water. After all, I’ve “lived” farming for 50-plus years!