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Former USDA Secretary Bob Bergland Passes
USAgNet - 12/10/2018

Bob Bergland, a Minnesota Democrat who as a liberal congressman and President Jimmy Carter's secretary of agriculture was a zealous advocate for America’s consumers as well as its farmers, died on Sunday in his hometown, Roseau, Minn. He was 90.

The New York Times reports that in an era when small family farms were being gobbled up by agribusiness, and when soaring inflation was corroding the purchasing power of millions of Americans, Bergland angered many farmers by tempering his advocacy of farm subsidies and price supports, and offering evenhanded encouragements for inflation-weary consumers.

As secretary of agriculture, Bergland directed a department of 83,000 employees whose work affected virtually every taxpayer and consumer in America. Its 9,000 inspectors guarded the cleanliness and quality of meats. It a;sp lent $30 million a year to farmers, issued crop reports that influenced markets; supervised subsidies, controlled the labeling of packaged foods and directed $9.3 billion in programs that provided food stamps to 15 million people and lunches at 95,000 schools.

Among his signature achievements, Bergland helped steer the Farm Act of 1977 through Congress. It created a grain reserve that became a primary weapon to flatten boom-and-bust cycles.


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