#so

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. ↗

— Thomas Vilsack

#challenge #choice #day #friends #go

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. ↗

— Tom Vilsack

#comes #elsewhere #family #family farm #farm

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. ↗

— Tom Vilsack

#for the people #help #leaders #leaving #long-term

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. ↗

— Tom Vilsack

#average #counterparts #each #earn #folks

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. ↗

— Tom Vilsack

#continued #course #fuel #gasoline #gasoline prices

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. ↗

— Tom Vilsack

#always #changed #concerned #democrats #families

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. ↗

— Tom Vilsack

#activity #benefits #buy #direct #dollar

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

— Tom Vilsack

#america #city #grew #i #knew

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

— Tom Vilsack

#farmers #local #many #markets #out

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

— Tom Vilsack

#need #paid #society #you #your