Democratic Candidate for Auditor, Doug Hoffer has had a busy and gratifying several days, picking up endorsements from  the Free Press and independent Republican Senator Vince Illuzzi. While both developments are certainly noteworthy, it was his latest observations on current Auditor, Tom Salmon’s somewhat erratic attentions, that particularly caught my eye.  

As the Addison Independent, reported on October 14, Salmon lists among his significant activities, an interest in the economics of farming, to wit:

Salmon and his colleagues – in concert with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture – are participating in the effort to create better economic conditions for farmers. To that end, they have assembled a group of Vermont-based entrepreneurs who are brainstorming ways to put more money in farmers’ pockets.

About this curious foray into Ag issues, Doug Hoffer observes,

With so much work to be done, why has the Auditor chosen to dabble in agriculture policy? What are his priorities?… It is curious why Mr. Salmon convened a group of non-experts without consulting those who are actively working on agriculture issues.

Mr. Hoffer goes on to wonder whether Mr. Salmon is even aware of the network of programs already in existence to address the local foods issues and the economics of agriculture:

If Mr. Salmon is aware of Farm-to-Plate, why was no effort made to communicate with the principals to determine what has been done so as not to reinvent the wheel (and waste time and money)?  If Mr. Salmon was not aware of the Farm-to-Plate project, it suggests poor preparation and raises questions about the seriousness of his interest in this issue.

Perhaps the everyday chores of the Auditor’s office aren’t quite grand enough for Mr. Salmon and he seeks to grow it into something more suitable to his larger ambitions.  In a communique with Agriculture Secretary Roger Albee, Mr. Salmon proposes to  

Establish an Agricultural Business Development Cabinet….The purpose (of which) will be to gather, coordinate, and implement the “good ideas” that emerge from various segments of our working landscape – agriculture, dairy, agri-tourism – with the effort of economic development and labor force training to enable a unified team approach to development in Vermont.

I was particularly interested in whom Mr. Salmon saw fit to include among his first group of collaborators, as that might give some indication of what sort of “cabinet”  he has in mind to shape food and farm policy in the coming years.

As it turns out, the group chosen by Mr. Salmon includes only one farmer,  Amanda St. Pierre, a large-scale dairy owner in Berkshire.  Apart from Ms. St. Pierre, the group is comprised of a vet (Kent Anderson), a financier (Bruce Lisman), a career bureaucrat (Michael K. Smith),  a familiar e-marketer (Jerry Tarrant), Mr. Salmon’s deputy (Joe Juhasz) and not one but three developers (Angelo Pizzagalli, Ernie Pomerleau and William Stenger). No crop farmers; not a one.   Didn’t Mr. Salmon learn that a balanced diet includes five servings of fruit and vegetables a day?

Quite apart from Doug Hoffer’s fair observation that Salmon’s foray into farm policy represents yet another distraction from the legitimate responsibilities of his office, which he has already claimed were so burdensome that he couldn’t quite get around to detecting that hefty bit of embezzling that went on in the Dept. of Children and Families for five years; and quite apart from his equally legitimate issue with Salmon’s apparent ignorance of Farm to Table;  the brain-trust that Mr. Salmon has engaged in this “reinvention of the wheel” does not inspire much confidence in me.  I would not  like to think that a group so heavily representative of the sectors traditionally not friendly to land-conservation and sustainability might get their meathooks even further into Vermont’s agriculture and land-use policies.