Oral history interview with Kathleen A. Merrigan, 2022
Abstract
Kathleen Merrigan discusses her contribution to the agriculture policy of the Obama administration, in which she served as deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from 2009 to 2013. Merrigan outlines the remarkable scope of USDA operations, and describes her efforts to implement new initiatives throughout the agency's bureaucracy. She provides details about her work focused on local and regional food systems, including the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative; negotiations over appropriations for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the 2008 and 2014 farm bills; the administration of funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; and efforts to support women farmers, new farmers, and farmers and ranchers of color. Merrigan also describes her involvement in administration efforts to promote childhood health and nutrition, including by her service on the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity, support for farm-to-school programs and the improved quality of school meals, and the development of USDA's MyPlate icon, which replaced the food pyramid. Also discussed are Merrigan's collaboration with the East Wing's childhood nutrition initiatives, the effect of the first lady's messaging around gardening and healthy eating, USDA's historical approach to organic and alternative agriculture, the impacts of climate change on agricultural production and the reception to discussion of climate change in rural America, the effects of agricultural consolidation on the rural economy, and the disappearance of traditional family farming
Presidents--United States; Women farmers--United States; Minority farmers--United States; School children--Food--United States; Crops and climate--United States; Agriculture--Environmental aspects--United States; Climatic changes--United States; Merrigan, Kathleen (Kathleen Ann), 1959-; Obama, Barack; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (U.S.); United States. Department of Agriculture; United States; United States. White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity; American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2022
Physical Description
58 pages
Note (Biographical)
Kathleen Merrigan served in the Obama administration as deputy secretary and chief operating officer of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) from 2009 to 2013. Prior to her work in the Obama administration, Merrigan served as the senior science and technology advisor to the chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Patrick Leahy. In that role, she played a major role in the writing of the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act. From 1999 to 2001, Merrigan was also the administrator of USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service. Between her service in the Clinton and Obama administrations, Merrigan was director and an assistant professor at the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and has held a number of other academic and research positions related to agriculture and nutrition policy
Note
Interviewed by Dov Weinryb Grohsgal on May 7, 2021. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Kathleen A. Merrigan, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023