On her first trip as the nation's No. 2 agriculture official, Kathleen Merrigan made clear that the Obama administration's commitment to nutrition isn't going to stop with the White House's new vegetable garden.
"We have a president and a first lady who are personally very interested in health and diet and very compelled by the childhood obesity crisis," Merrigan said Wednesday morning at the University of California, Davis, as she started a two-day visit to the region.
The nutrition emphasis has the state's farm groups smiling. Compared with other states, California's agriculture leans heavily to fruits, nuts and vegetables – crops that would get a boost from, for instance, new mandates on fresh foods in school lunches.
"We look at that as a great opportunity," said Matt McInerney, executive vice president of Western Growers, a major produce-industry group.
The focus on health – and the warm reception from the state's mainstream farm sector – also fills out the picture of Merrigan. Her nomination as deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in February made news mainly because she's a longtime champion of organic farming, a sector that has gotten little attention from the agency.
As a congressional staffer two decades ago, Merrigan helped craft the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, which launched federal oversight of the sector. Last week, she pledged to integrate organic foods into the USDA's operations.
"I think everybody in the organic community is pretty thrilled," said Paul Underhill, who runs Terra Firma Farm near Winters. "The National Organic Program is really this abandoned child at USDA. We're hoping it gets a little more love" under Merrigan.
Organic farming already has gotten an unprecedented boost under the new administration. In May, the USDA announced a $50 million assistance program for farms transitioning to organic production.
"It's not just Kathleen waving her hands," said Bob Scowcroft, executive director of the Santa Cruz-based Organic Farming Research Foundation, a leading organic advocacy group.
Merrigan's trip started Wednesday morning with a tour of the USDA's Western Human Nutrition Research Center at UC Davis. Researchers at the lab are investigating everything from the role strawberries may play in fighting heart disease to the reasons people favor certain foods when stressed.
Research of this sort stands to get strong federal support in coming years, Merrigan said.
"I haven't seen a time where there's been more excitement" in Washington about science, she said.
This morning, Merrigan is scheduled to be at the U.S. Forest Service training center at McClellan, where she's scheduled to announce details of the USDA's economic stimulus programs. She also is to meet with leaders in the Sacramento Valley rice industry and tour the Port of West Sacramento.
Call The Bee's Jim Downing, (916) 321-1065.
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