Fallon applies for job as ‘White House Farmer’

In a letter sent today to President-elect Barack Obama, former state legislator Ed Fallon officially threw his hat into the ring for the job of “White House Farmer.”

Currently no such job exists.

Former state Rep. Ed Fallon.

Fallon said he first came across the term in an article in the New York Times Magazine, which advocated that Obama “tear out five prime south-facing acres of the White House lawn and plant in their place an organic fruit and vegetable garden.”

“Though leaving Iowa would be difficult, I would be honored to serve in this capacity and believe I am well qualified,” Fallon said in his letter to Obama. “As I see it, the challenge involves both managing a successful fruit and vegetable garden (and a small chicken coop for eggs!) and promoting greater food security across the country.”

Since leaving the legislature, Fallon has run unsuccessfully for the Democratic guernatorial and 3rd District congressional nomination. He has also started the social activist group/business An Independendence Movement for Iowa (I’m For Iowa).

Below is Fallon’s letter to Obama:

Dear President-elect Obama,

With my broad background in politics, community organizing, community gardening and farming, I write to apply for the job of “White House Farmer,” a term I first came across in an article by Michael Pollan (“Farmer in Chief,” New York Times, October 12, 2008.  Pollan writes:

“This new post would be charged with implementing what could turn out to be your most symbolically resonant step in building a new American food culture.  And that is this:  tear out five prime south-facing acres of the White House lawn and plant in their place an organic fruit and vegetable garden.”

Pollan goes on to remind us of Eleanor Roosevelt’s efforts to help ignite the Victory Garden movement in 1943 by planting a garden on the White House lawn, and how by the end of World War II, “more than 20 million home gardens were supplying 40 percent of the pro duce consumed in America.”

Pollan’s not the only one talking up this idea.  Perhaps you’re familiar with a website launched last February called “Eat the View!”  Perhaps you are already considering such a position.  At any rate, though leaving Iowa would be difficult, I would be honored to serve in this capacity and believe I am well qualified.  As I see it, the challenge involves both managing a successful fruit and vegetable garden (and a small chicken coop for eggs!) and promoting greater food security across the country.

I will gladly supply a formal resume.  For now, let me summarize the relevant points in my background and experience:

POLITICS & COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

•    Served 14 years in the Iowa Legislature, and ran for Governor and Congress.
•    Worked as a consultant with John Edwards’ campaign for president in 2007.
•    Co-founded and directed two non-profit organizations.
•    Traveled extensively across Iowa promoting farmland preservation initiatives.
•    Co-founded the North Park Neighborhood Association.
•    Co-founded a business which focuses in part on promoting locally grown foods.

FARMING & GARDENING

•    Raised much of my family’s produce over the past twenty years.
•    Helped establish and manage a community garden comprising five city lots.
•    Coordinated the planting of 25,000 oak trees on my family’s farm in Ireland.
•    Apprenticed on two farms in Nova Scotia in the early 1980s.
•    As a Legislator, served on the House Agriculture Committee for six years.
•    Developed a business plan for a grocery store featuring locally-grown food.

I have submitted the Expression of Interest Form available on change.gov website, and look for ward to proceeding with the next steps.

To conclude, let me again quote Pollan: “{T}he president should throw his support behind a new Victory Garden movement, this one seeking ‘victory’ over three critical challenges we face today:  high food prices, poor diets and a sedentary population.”

I am hopeful that your administration will help ignite this movement, and I am eager to be a part of it.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

Ed Fallon