Tom Vilsack Quotations

I don't care what anybody says: Nothing is better than a tomato you grow. There's something about it that's different than a tomato you can buy. It's a great thing.

Quality, affordable housing is a key element of a strong and secure Iowa.

President Obama has expressed his commitment to responsible stewardship of our land, water, and other natural resources. And one way of restoring the land to its natural condition is what we are doing here today - breaking pavement for the People's Garden.

My friends, history, history calls us to this time and to this place. A solemn choice rests with us - where do we go from here? Do we move slowly and incrementally? Or do we seize the challenge of our time and tackle the great issues of our day.

We have a long tradition in this state of caring for our neighbors - it is truly an Iowa value.

Let us tackle the big issues with bold ideas that transform Iowa to accomplish our shared mission to grow Iowa, and realize our shared vision of Iowa as the best place to live, work and raise a family.

In the past 40 years, the United States lost more than a million farmers and ranchers. Many of our farmers are aging. Today, only nine percent of family farm income comes from farming, and more and more of our farmers are looking elsewhere for their primary source of income.

Technology has allowed us to have more drought-resistant crops. The spotty nature of drought, the spotty nature of rains can sometimes result in better yields than anticipated.

The future of healthcare security should include flexibility from the federal government to allow us to serve the state's most vulnerable citizens.

Now our job, our duty, our responsibility to ensure the safety and security of our citizens cannot be complete unless we guarantee health care security for our citizens.

If we can get people to focus on fruits and vegetables and more healthy foods, we'll be better in terms of our healthcare situation.

To amplify our efforts, USDA is joining with First Lady Michelle Obama in aggressively promoting the 'Let's Move' campaign, which will combat the epidemic of childhood obesity through a comprehensive approach that builds on effective strategies, and mobilizes public and private sector resources.

I don't know of a Democrat - whether they're a conservative, a centrist or a liberal Democrat - that doesn't think that it's important to have quality jobs that pay decent wages so that families can support themselves, so that they can have the dignity of being able to afford health care, put money aside for pension, buy a home.

We're going to move from a commodity economy where you basically grow the same kind of crops - where a kernel of corn is a kernel of corn is a kernel of corn - to an ingredient economy where there will be a kernel of corn that will be designed for fuel, there will be a kernel of corn designed for livestock.

To keep farmers on the farm we must maintain a strong farm safety net, but we will also have to build a thriving companion economy to compliment production agriculture in rural America.

There are ways we can go do a better job of educating young moms and dads about the vital role they have as the child's first teacher. I think there are ways in which we can partner with local school districts and states to do a better job to provide nutrition options at school.

The lack of access to proper nutrition is not only fueling obesity, it is leading to food insecurity and hunger among our children.

The rise of childhood obesity has placed the health of an entire generation at risk.

In his first year in office, President Obama pulled us back from the brink of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression and worked to lay a new foundation for economic growth. The president identified three key strategies to build that lasting prosperity: innovation, investment, and education.

There are a lot of farmers and ranchers who are struggling. I get on my knees every day. If I had a rain prayer or a rain dance I could do, I would do it.

If I had a rain prayer or a rain dance I could do, I would do it.

Over the past two years, the Obama Administration and USDA have worked to build a foundation for sustainable economic growth in rural America. At the center of our vision is an effort to increase domestic production and use of renewable energy.

You know, rural Americans are a special people. Their labor puts food on our table and fuel in our gas tanks. Their service in our military sets a powerful example of leadership, honor and sacrifice. Their spirit of community inspires us all.

And sometimes people don't realize that 90 percent of the persistent poverty counties are located in rural America.

I think we all share the same goal, which is a United States of America that inspires people and leads.

President Obama's fight for rural America is personal. He was raised by a single mom and grandparents from Kansas. He hails from a farming state, Illinois.

Rural Americans want leaders who help middle-class communities to plan and prosper over the long-term - not opportunists who reap the rewards for themselves, leaving nothing for the people who do the sowing.

Proper school nutrition must be complemented by activities outside of the cafeteria. The decisions parents make to keep their kids healthy are critical in fighting this battle on the home front.

The food pyramid is very complicated. It doesn't give you as much info in a quick glance as the plate does.

I wish I could give you all the examples over the last two years as secretary of agriculture, where I hear people in rural America constantly being criticized, without any expression of appreciation for what they do do.

Somewhere between 50 to 60 percent of the food you eat has been touched by immigrant hands, and it is fair to say some of them are not here as they should be here. But if you didn't have these folks, you would be spending a lot more - three, four or five times more - for food, or we would have to import food and have all the food security risks.

Today, President Obama is making smart investments in clean energy - wind, solar, biofuels - as part of an all-of-the-above energy strategy that supports thousands of jobs, not in the Middle East, but in the Midwest.

One out of every 12 jobs in the economy is connected in some way, shape or form to what happens on the farm.

This is an exciting time for farmers and ranchers of all types and sizes as agriculture is a bright spot in the American economy. In 2011, agricultural exports hit a record high and producers saw their best incomes in nearly 40 years.

Food is a fairly significant aspect of my life. I have struggled mightily with food. With my weight. And I'm conscious of it. So I have a sensitivity to people who struggle with their weight.

More than half of America's rural counties are losing population and with it, political representation.

There is more potential for economic growth in rural America than at any time in decades.

Sixteen percent of our population is rural, but 40 percent of our military is rural. I don't believe that's because of a lack of opportunity in rural America. I believe that's because if you grow up in rural America, you know you can't just keep taking from the land. You've got to give something back.

It is critical to develop a biofuel industry powered by feedstocks produced in every corner of the country, in addition to the Midwest. That is why USDA has established five regional research centers working on science necessary to ensure profitable biofuels can be produced from a diverse range of feedstocks.

Although they are some of the hardest working folks I know, rural Americans earn, on average, $11,000 less than their urban counterparts each year. And they are more likely to live in poverty.

If you think of what food is, it's the energy we use to do our daily work. I want people to know about the USDA. This is a very important department. It's not fully appreciated as such.

We know that there are significant health benefits from consuming more fruits and vegetables, and that's an opportunity for us to sort of move away from some of the meals that we've been preparing in the past.

Let us build a 21st-century rural economy of cutting-edge companies and technologies that lead us to energy and food security. Such an investment will revitalize rural America, re-establish our moral leadership on climate security and eliminate our addiction to foreign oil.

USDA is committed to keeping pace with the needs and progress of American agriculture by supporting new markets and movements that will keep farmers profitable and help create middle class jobs across the country.

But It doesn't make sense for us to have a continued reliance on a supply of oil where whenever there is unrest in another part of the world, gasoline prices jump up. We need a renewable fuel industry that's more than corn-based, of course, and there are a whole series of great opportunities here.

People don't understand rural America. Sixteen percent of our population is rural, but 40 percent of our military is rural. I don't believe that's because of a lack of opportunity in rural America. I believe that's because if you grow up in rural America, you know you can't just keep taking from the land. You've got to give something back.

The Obama administration will continue to fight for a comprehensive immigration solution that includes AgJobs and a stable workforce for our farms.

I don't think the face of the Democratic Party is Nancy Pelosi.

I grew up in a city. My parents would think there was something wrong with America if they knew I was secretary of agriculture.

In 2011, agricultural exports hit a record high and producers saw their best incomes in nearly 40 years.

Local and regional food systems are about opportunity.

Many young and beginning farmers start out in local markets. Some stay there, and some scale up.

What Republicans have done in my view is that they are systematically dismantling a sense of community in America.

When you've paid your debt to society, you need to be reconnected and re-engaged in society.

To help producers serve larger institutional customers like schools and hospitals, USDA has helped fund new regional infrastructure like cold storage warehouses, commercial kitchens and local slaughter facilities.

Democrats have always historically referred to our families as working families, and I have sort of changed that moniker. I think what we have is a nation of worried families - families that are concerned about job security, families who thought their pensions were secure and now have questions.

I don't know if there is a Democrat who necessarily doesn't believe health care is a right instead of privilege. There is a significant between us and the Republican Party on that issue.

When you travel across the country twice in a week, it just kills you,

When we find new markets for our harvest, we ensure the security of our state's economy,

We're going to do everything we possibly can to make their time here, their visit here, their home here, for as long as they want to be a part of our state, as pleasant and as good as it can be,

This program is critical to the elderly, disabled and children of this state,

I think the football coaches for Iowa and Iowa State would tell you they are some of the luckiest people in the world to have the job they have, ... Win, lose or draw, I'm sure they believe it's a great life. And that's how I feel about my job.

I think early in the process it might have had a hard time meeting our eligibility standards for high school athletics,

I was very concerned about what I believed and what a lot of my citizens believed were unfair prices at the pump,

It allows us to continue fostering the reputation of Iowa as an innovator and a renewable fuel and energy leader,

I wasn't in the White House, so I can't answer that question.

We have the Department of Corrections, the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Transportation, our emergency management division (and) our Iowa National Guard working with local folks to try to put hundreds of thousands of sandbags in appropriate locations to try to reduce the damage and the impact. ... It's just a race against time.

those who are focused on security and those who are focused on hope and optimism.

With all due respect to my friends in my party, I think they're wrong. And I think I've got the facts to prove it,

Every dollar of SNAP benefits generates $1.84 in the economy in terms of economic activity. If people are able to buy a little more in the grocery store, someone has to stock it, package it, shelve it, process it, ship it. All of those are jobs. It's the most direct stimulus you can get in the economy during these tough times.

At President Obama's direction, the U.S Department of Agriculture is working hard to unleash the power of America's innovators and entrepreneurs to build a green energy economy.

Essentially, what happened was a count was not made in the prison industries section of the prison that would have identified immediately that individuals were missing,

It was a little bit more frightening than the earthquake I was in, ... You could see the faces of people screaming at you.

The state and this city are engaged in a global competition for economic opportunity,

The old way isn't going to work in this country.

Your poll suggests to me . . . that we've lost a sense of community in this country, ... It is important that we have that common thread.

This is going to provide a sense of hope to folks,

As we move into a freer marketplace, it's incumbent upon us to show how crops can be used in a wider way,

It was a very tough winter for us. We didn't have the normal thaw, and as a result we're getting essentially all of this water at one time,

It's a good day for Democrats. But it's over,

It's not always freezing cold in the state,

I'm excited about this team. I really am. I mean, these guys are great guys, ... They are going to be passionate. They are going to bring this message of hope and opportunity, a stronger America -- a better and more respected America -- to the rest of this country. They're going to make us feel proud.

I'm concerned about the anxiety and stress of the families here in Newton and in the Amana area,

If we used that fortress mentality and created a sense of security and security zones, and wait for the insurgents to come to us and don't go after them . . . and protect the people inside that zone, allow them to feel more comfortable and more confident and allow them to get an economy going . . . then at that point Iraqis are going to be more willing to assume the front lines of that fortress.

In order for E85 to take hold, you have to have gas stations and cars that can handle it, ... It requires Detroit to build cars, which they are beginning to do.

He steals second, and I hereby restore his voting rights.

The generosity of Iowans once again on exhibit,

The current inability to market products in Europe makes it extremely difficult - and the concerns that have been expressed in Europe are beginning to be raised in the Far East,

The Department of Economic Development has done a good job in explaining that we can't be everything to everybody, ... We must identify what our core competencies are.

The legislature this year established tax credits for small and large wind producers, ... That's a great combination with Sen. Grassley's work and Sen. Harkin's work on the production tax credit at the federal level.

During a national crisis, we as a nation become a single community and no one should take advantage of a crisis.

A healthy workforce is essential to grow our state and compete in the global marketplace. These actions are important to improve the health security of Iowans by making healthcare more affordable and accessible.

Food during my early years was a very difficult issue for me. I grew up in an addictive family. My mother had serious problems with alcohol and prescription drugs. I was an overweight kid. I can remember back in those days there weren't the strategies that there are today to deal with those issues.

At President Obama's direction, the U.S Department of Agriculture is working hard to unleash the power of America's innovators and entrepreneurs to build a green energy economy.

Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy.

It's how you make decisions that matters, and that ought to be the question that people ask of any candidate for any executive office, whether it's mayor, governor or president. How do you make decisions? Who do you want in the room helping you make those decisions?

People working together in a strong community with a shared goal and a common purpose can make the impossible possible.

Strong communities ... embrace change. New discoveries require us to think differently and approach things differently, to think anew.

You know, this country today, it seems to me--it's about fear. And it shouldn't be about fear. It should be about hope and optimism and creativity and accepting a challenge and being a moral leader and being a great nation.

We should also challenge this country to come up with strategies and technologies that allow us to produce nuclear energy without necessarily producing a byproduct that can be converted to something far more dangerous. I believe that can be done. It may not be done tomorrow, but it clearly needs to be worked on.