We want organic and regenerative farmers and ranchers leading the U.S.
Department of Agriculture!‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Dear Supporter,

Phew! The election finally is over!

Now, the real work begins.

We’ve got to stop Heidi Heikamp!
[[link removed]]

Heitkamp is Biden’s first choice for Agriculture Secretary, but she’s in the
pocket of the worst food and ag corporations.

We want organic and regenerative farmers and ranchers leading the U.S.
Department of Agriculture!

Take Action: Stop Heitkamp and tell Biden to give us organic leadership at USDA!
[[link removed]]

TAKE ACTION
[[link removed]]There are plenty of elected officials to choose from, including organic farmers
like Congresswoman Chellie Pingree
[[link removed]] (D-Maine), Senator Jon Tester
[[link removed]] (D-Montana) and Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman [[link removed]] (D-Vermont).

There’s at least one state agriculture commissioner, Kate Greenberg
[[link removed]] (D-Colorado). She worked on organic and regenerative farms and was a leader
with the National Young Farmers Association.

There are organic and regenerative farmers who have worked at USDA, including Dr. Francis Thicke
[[link removed]] , who was the National Program Leader for Soil Science, Shirley Sherrod
[[link removed]] , who was the Georgia State Director of Rural Development, and Mark Lipson
[[link removed]] , who was the Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Policy Advisor.

And, there are also organic and regenerative farmers and ranchers who, because
of historic discrimination, have never been offered political appointments, but
have proven themselves as leaders, including John Boyd [[link removed]] , founder of the National Black Farmers Association, Karen Washington [[link removed]] , co-founder of Black Urban Growers, and Winona LaDuke [[link removed]] , founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, to name just a few.

For anyone who says that Mitch McConnell would never allow organic or
regenerative farmers to take any of the 15 USDA leadership positions
[[link removed]] that require Senate confirmation, the Revolving Door Project [[link removed]] has this to say:

Mitch McConnell is not the 46th President [[link removed]] !

If McConnell refuses to confirm a Cabinet that reflects the country’s desire for
an aggressive response to the pandemic and economic crisis, Joe Biden has tools
[[link removed]] to ensure he still fulfills his presidential mandate:

* Biden can use the Vacancies Act.
[[link removed]] The Vacancies Act provides an indisputably legal channel to fill
Senate-confirmed positions on a temporary basis when confirmations are
delayed. The Act has been used extensively by presidents of both parties,
including by Trump to an unprecedented degree, despite facing a friendly
Senate.


* Biden can adjourn Congress and make recess appointments [[link removed]] . Section 3 of Article II of the U.S. Constitution
[[link removed]] gives the President the power to adjourn Congress “to such time as he shall
think proper” whenever the House and Senate disagree on adjournment. And
after 10 days of recess, the President may make recess appointments to fill
positions requiring Senate confirmation.



After 4 years of Trump, organic needs help. It’s up to Biden to turn things
around.

Trump's USDA killed an Obama-Biden Administration rule
[[link removed]] 10 years in the making for comprehensive animal welfare guidelines on certified
organic farms, allowing the continued proliferation of “organic” factory farms,
especially for eggs [[link removed]] and chicken [[link removed]] .

This is one of the reasons that, as demand for organic [[link removed]] continues to grow, profits are going to corporations running industrial-scale farms
[[link removed]] , while small producers are struggling
[[link removed]] to stay in business.

This isn’t sustainable.

If Biden cares about USDA Organic he needs to give us an Organic USDA!

Take Action: Stop Heitkamp and tell Biden to give us organic leadership at USDA!
[[link removed]]

TAKE ACTION
[[link removed]]Thanks!

Alexis, for the OCA Team

P.S. To help support this, and other campaigns, please consider making a donation to OCA
[[link removed]] . Nearly 80 percent of our support comes in the form of small donations from
individual donors. Thank you!


[[link removed]]
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Organic Consumers Association is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization, under
the section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All charitable donations are
deductible to the full extent allowed by law.



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