Change Coming to Food Policy from the Top?

The FLOTUS dug up the White House lawn last week with help from local schoolchildren. Fifty-five different vegetables will be planted in the organic garden, the first on the grounds since the Roosevelt's "Victory Garden" during WWII. (Click photo to see ABC News video / Photo: White House Organic Farm Project)

Will First Lady Michelle Obama inspire Americans to start growing their own vegetables? That remains to be seen, but last week, she began digging what will become a new organic vegetable garden on the White House grounds.

The folks from the Web site, White House Organic Farm Project, are definitely happy about it.

In the city, few people have the sprawling lawns the White House has. Don’t despair, says the First Lady. For urban dwellers who do not have a backyard of their own, she mentioned the important role the country’s one million community gardens can play.

With the advent of a presidential organic veggie garden — at the very least, quite a symbolic move — sustainable food advocates are excited that this administration seems open to their agenda. But are they ready for the D.C. scene? Agribusiness is an entrenched lobby, and has the support of many in Congress. Still,  how this nation eats and relates to its own food system may be changing.

Tags: Agribusiness, community garden, First Lady, Michelle Obama, organic, organic garden, vegetable garden, White House, White House Organic Farm Project

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 at 9:14 pm and is filed under Urban Farming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.