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11.23.04

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ann Veneman, a peach farmer’s daughter who became the first woman to the head the Agriculture Department, presided during a period of unprecedented wariness about the safety of the nation’s food supply.
Weeks after taking office in 2001, an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Europe prompted Veneman to increase inspections and testing to prevent its arrival in the United States. After the Sept. 11 attacks that year, concern grew that terrorists might seek to contaminate the nation’s food supply.
Then came the discovery last year of the first case of mad cow disease in the United States. Veneman quickly upgraded the country’s defenses, banning high-risk meat products and meat from cows that could not stand or walk on their own, testing more cattle and promising to speed a nationwide animal tracking system.
Farm interests for the most part praised Veneman’s response, while consumer advocacy groups said Veneman and her agency had not done enough.
“We don’t think she took all the steps that were necessary to protect the public,’’ said Carol Tucker Foreman, director of food policy for the Consumer Federation of America.
Foreman argued Veneman should have had public health experts shape the department’s response. Despite the criticism, Foreman said Veneman “was always willing to meet with us and hear our views.’’
Though Veneman, 55, is the daughter of a farmer, many ranchers and farmers eyed her with suspicion, wondering whether a California attorney really was farm-friendly. During her tenure Veneman was diagnosed with breast cancer. She continued working while undergoing treatment, scheduling radiation sessions late in the day so as not to interfere with her working hours.
In her resignation letter to President Bush, dated Friday but released Monday, Veneman focused on record-setting levels of farm income and exports, which she said were fueled by aggressive trade policies that opened new markets for farmers and ranchers.
Still, agriculture persistently has been a stumbling block in major trade negotiations. While the United States has a history of exporting more crops than it imports, that surplus has all but disappeared.
Critics considered Veneman’s agency to be disengaged during negotiations on the 2002 farm bill, legislation that resulted in the most generous government subsidies ever awarded to growers. Still, her USDA put the complicated farm programs in place in record time, along with multiple disaster programs, agency spokeswoman Alisa Harrison said.
In her letter, Veneman also counted as successes the president’s Healthy Forests initiative to prevent wildfires as well as stronger child nutrition programs.
Veneman has not said what she will do next.
Possible replacements include: White House farm adviser Chuck Conner; Texas Democratic Rep. Charles Stenholm, who lost his seat Nov. 2; former Rep. Larry Combest, a Texas Republican who headed the Agriculture Committee; or Allen Johnson, chief U.S. negotiator on agriculture.
Names also in the mix: Charles Kruse, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau Federation; Kansas beef producer Jan Lyons, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association president, and Iowa farmer Glen Keppy, former chairman of the National Pork Producers Council.