The Search for the White House Farmer
By Vanessa Richins
There has been no official position announced.
However, that hasn’t stopped one site from conducting a search for a “White House Farmer”.
The website was begun in response to Michael Pollan saying that the White House needed to hire a farmer.
“Pollan suggested the farmer be charged with transforming “five prime south-facing acres of the White House lawn and plant[ing] in their place an organic fruit and vegetable garden” whose produce will be used by the White House Chef, and given to area food banks.”
From November 2008 – January 2009, the site accepted nominations for the White House Farmer. 111 people were nominated for the position. A poll was taken from Jan. 21-31, 2009 to determine the top nominees. Three candidates emerged as the winners – Margaret Lloyd, Claire Strader, and Carrie Little.
Now that the top contenders have been chosen . . . what next? The Brockmans, who run a farm family in central Illinois and started whitehousefarmer.com say “We are compiling a packet of information on the top three nominees and will send it to President Obama’s staff. We are hopeful that the time is ripe for a White House Farmer, and will post news and developments on this site as they occur.”
The chances are starting to look promising. The Obamas’ private chef in Chicago, Sam Kass, will be coming to the White House as one of the chefs. He is a proponent of using local food in his cooking.
What would be more local than a White House vegetable garden?
February 11th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
ME ME ME!! Pick me (us)!! Oh… missed that boat… dang… LOL What a dream job!!
February 11th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
That’s a great job alright, and a good idea. Not sure about Washington though – nice place and people but all I remember from being there recently is that it was a lot colder than I was expecting and everything isn’t as close as it seems on the map. Many “ah sure you could walk that” mistakes were made in the cold.
February 12th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
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