Meet The Farmer TV host, Michael Clark, recently interviewed Dr. Kathleen Merrigan, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) at Virginia State University. Secretary Merrigan remarked that her field now is all the rage. “Now my issues are hip—everyone wants to know more about food. 

There has been no greater time to develop agricultural policy. Our job is to preserve the farmland and the people on the land. USDA is developing programs to make that happen.” She stresses early education in Farm to School programs, where more empirical data is needed, but where recent statistics revealed that exposure to planting and the farm may lead to higher standardized test scores, more environmental awareness and even a greater willingness among young children to try new foods. 

Introducing a new initiative, KNOW YOUR FARMER/KNOW YOUR FOOD, which seeks to reconnect consumers with their food sources, with the hope that it will popularize foods and food production, and encourage agriculture career paths like those taken by the dedicated students interviewed at VSU, where the latest in agricultural research is carried out.