Merrigan says goodbye amidst ‘Know Your Farmers, Know Your Flowers’
April 25, 2013 | 03:14 PM
Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan says farewell to USDA staff and supporters in the patio of the Agriculture Department Jamie Whitten headquarters building Wednesday. In front of Merrigan are two bouquets of flowers produced by American flower growers and promoted as part of a “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Flowers” program. Behind Merrigan are Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Krysta Harden, the USDA chief of staff. (Jerry Hagstrom/The Hagstrom Report)
By JERRY HAGSTROM
If there are any differences between Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan they were not visible Wednesday at Merrigan's departure ceremony and party in the patio of the Jamie Whitten headquarters building.
Kathleen Merrigan
The exact reasons for Merrigan’s decision to resign have never been made clear, but Vilsack led a parade of USDA political appointees in praising Merrigan for her four years as deputy. Merrigan is scheduled to attend a conference on women in agriculture in Wisconsin and leave the department in early May.
Vilsack thanked Merrigan for managing the civil service staff as well as mentoring the younger political appointees who he said he expects to see serving in higher level positions in future Democratic administrations.
Vilsack also noted that she has cared for her husband, children and ailing father while serving as deputy.
But Vilsack also acknowledged that Merrigan has pointedly said she did not resign to spend more time with her family, and believes that women in what she calls “jobs of privilege” who say that their lives are tough do not realize how hard it is for women in lesser positions to manage work and home life.
“She believes she can have it all. She believes it and she’s proven it,” Vilsack said.
Other officials praised Merrigan for proving that an academic — she was previously a professor at Tufts University — can manage a government agency, and for proving that “nice guys” don't always finish last. The event was also attended by many farm leaders and congressional staff for whom the appointment of a deputy secretary who helped then-Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., write the Organic Standards Act was a dream come true.
More than 100 food and farm leaders, CEOs, actors, chefs, pediatricians, authors, environmentalists and public interest groups recently sent Merrigan a letter of thanks. (See link below).
Merrigan has been best known for her “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative to help local and organic producers find markets, and when she took the podium she managed to turn her departure into the announcement of a new initiative, “Know Your Farmers, Know Your Flowers.”
Pointing to bouquets of flowers from Virginia, Washington, California and Maryland. in front of her and on tables scattered throughout the room, Merrigan urged people to buy from U.S. growers.
“They will stay fresh longer,” she said.
Merrigan directly addressed concerns that “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” will diminish with her departure, even though Vilsack has said it is being “institutionalized” throughout the department.
“Nothing could have been approved without the secretary,” Merrigan said.
She also noted that when she wrote her doctoral dissertation on sustainable agriculture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she asked her expert interview subjects if Martians landed on earth and asked to be taken to the leader of the sustainable agriculture movement who that would be. All her respondents refused to answer, or named several people.
Merrigan said that when people talk about the growth of sustainable agriculture, she often thinks of former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s statement that “it takes a village” to raise a child.
“Am I a leader? Yes. But there are many leaders. We have a great secretary. The work will go on.”
The California Cut Flower Commission produced this gift card, which was attached to the flowers at Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan's departure ceremony.
