I was watching a local news station last night (it doesn’t have the story posted) and it highlighted Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey’s support for vegetable farmers. I checked into it and learned about the 2009 Farmers Market Nutrition Program and it has training so these vegetable farmers can get subsidy money to help grow their farms.
I was SO excited about this. I emailed Northy (who lives in my town of Spirit Lake, Iowa) and commended him for his work. Here’s part of the email:
I was watching KTIV tonight and saw your appearance supporting vegetable farmers in Iowa. I just wanted to commend you for this and I can’t tell how excited I got!!! It almost brought me to tears. I think it is a public health issue that Americans are not buying and eating fresh fruits and vegetables – much less local vegetables that don’t have to be picked from their nutrient source before they’re ripe. The government says we need 5-8 servings, from what I’ve read we really need 8-10 ripe servings from live soil (this is why I take lots of vitamins!). I think your work supporting vegetable farmers (besides the fact that it is smart to diversify) will help make REAL food accessible to Iowans. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Iowa . . . it’s a great start to getting fresher, riper, less expensive fresh vegetables! Thanks Mr. Northey!
