Dear Friends:
Following the first meeting of the President's Council on Sustainable
Development on Tuesday, July 20, representatives from a number of
groups and organizations met and decided that the time has come
for sustainable agriculture to assume a more prominent place on the
federal government's agriculture agenda. Accordingly, it was
suggested that Secretary of Agriculture Michael Espy be asked to
create a new position, the Assistant to the Secretary for Sustainable
Development.
The following is a model letter to Secretary Espy. We strongly
encourage you to print a letter containing these points on your own
letterhead and mail it as soon as possible. If all the groups that read
this bulletin respond, it will send the message to the USDA that it is
time to give sustainable agriculture the attention and expertise it
deserves.
Michael Espy
Secretary of Agriculture
200-A Administration Building
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Washington, DC 20250
Dear Mr. Secretary:
It is our recommendation that the United States Department of
Agriculture appoint a full-time Assistant to the Secretary for
Sustainable Development. The position should report through the
Office of Deputy Secretary. The position should be responsible for:
% Coordination of all USDA activities related to sustainable
development (0.25 FTE),
% Serve as Executive Director of the National Sustainable
Agriculture Advisory Council (0.25 FTE),
% Function as a focal point for USDA responses to Agenda 21
(0.25 FTE), and
% Be detailed to the President's Council on Sustainable
Development (0.25 FTE).
The General Accounting Office (GAO/RCED-92-233, pp. 19-25)
identified in considerable detail the USDA's coordination and
management problems related to sustainable agriculture, and this
recommendation is designed to resolve these problems.
Implementation of this recommendation would help USDA in their
search for an appropriate role, as sustainable agriculture provides
both national and international leadership in the transition to an age
of sustainable development.
Your consideration of this recommendation is greatly appreciated.