Presidential Candidate Views on Agricultural Policy

Search Terms: "mccain and obama agriculture policy"
Grist environmental news and commentary - comparison of policies

Merced

McClatchy

Obama's Rural Plan Fact Sheet

McCain's Ag Policy

The 20th Century Transformation of U.S. Agriculture and Farm Policy

Sustainable Agriculture Topics

WSU report

http://www.globalissues.org/article/7/causes-of-hunger-are-related-to-poverty

The Washington Sustainable Food and Farming Network
Future of Farming Process
Goal from the process paper:
"Improve in-state transportation of food products. We would like to see a fuel-efficient in-state food distribution network that supports increased consumption of WA-grown products, ensures farmers and ranchers a fair price and includes distribution to wholesale, retail, institutional markets and hunger abatement programs throughout the state. The distribution system will utilize electric and hybrid technology, and an improved rail system for long distance hauling."

Stats and problem statement for the world situation - FAO.org (UN Food and Agriculture Org)

Olympia resolution to reduce energy use in the city to reduce global warming
Olympia report on sustainability looked at consumption of locally grown food using Olympia farmers market as a benchmark - on the assumption that the more locally grown and sold food, the lower the transportation costs. - buying locally leads to decreased fuel consumption.


Toronto proposal to fund Urban agriculture as a way to reduce food transportation costs

Finish Study on cost of food transport and ways to reduce it - "The passport could be used in
marketing to show the energy efficiency of local produce."

UK study
Further evidence documenting the environmental impact of remote food production,
processing and transportation can be found in:
Böge, S. (1993) Road transport of goods and the effects on the spatial environment condensed
version. Wuppertal Institute.

How can we ensure healthy foods remain affordable as fuel prices rise?
"Fresh produce is more sensitive to increases in production, transport and storage costs and thus the price of these products has been rising fastest."

VTPI again - Farming and Food Distribution (Pirog, et al, 2001)
Explains the cost of food transportation milage on global warming, increased road use
(uses concept of Food Miles Traveled - Vehicle miles Traveled)
Link to Pirog article for Iowa

Article from Texas DOT on Food Miles Traveled
The argument: Food Miles Traveled are too high and contribute to road congestion, pollution, increased food costs, road repair costs. It's something we can reduce with tolling and local sourcing of food.

Food miles traveled is increasing according to Pirog in above link as referenced in Transportation and Food: The Importance of Access which offers some solutions and a list of stakeholders.

National Resource Defense Council on food miles

National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service - good resource for food miles definitions and solutions to reduce

"The Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) is a statewide organization of farmers and nonfarm citizens who support policies to enhance the long-term sustainability of California agriculture." CAFF in letter to CA Air Resources Board

Good report from DEFRA in UK on food miles as indicator of sustainable development

Wa State Farm Bureau new report on food miles

Really good source of stats about food miles from ATTRA National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service
"The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) released a report in 2005, which determined that food miles alone are not a valid indicator of the sustainability of the food system. In some cases, reducing food miles may reduce energy use, but there may be other social, environmental or economic trade-offs. The consequences of food transport are complex and require a group of indicators to determine the global impact of food miles.(13)"

Policy Brief from The Oakland Institute about reducing food miles with the suggestion that establishing regional distribution and retail model would reduce food miles.

Reference to Cornell study indicating type of food more important than food miles in reducing GHG.

Retaining and Recruiting Qualified IT Staff

Search terms: magnitude of the problem of retaining qualified IT information technology staff

Problem:
Situation: state agencies have trouble keeping and recruting qualified IT staff
Cost: projects don't get done, go long, fail, increasing budgets and reducing products leading to lower efficiency of state government

What are some possible steps state government can take to hire and keep qualified IT staff?

• DOP report on aging has tips for retaining experienced workers - scheduling flexibility,
  telecommuting, assignment or career changes, leave options, and downshifting
• Paper from Universities with IT staffing problems
• Telecommuting mentioned as a way to retain workers in Rhode Island report

Resources:

• Solutions and Strategies For IT Recruitment and Retention: A Manager''s Guide.(Statistical Data Included) - Publication: Public Personnel Management - Publication Date: 22-MAR-02 [[[this article might help define the size of the problem]]]
  
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Preparation for Stakeholder Analysis Paper

Do an analysis of stakeholders for telework policy:

• Who promotes telework policy and why
• Who stands to benefit from telework policy
• Who will bear some cost for telework implementatons

Stakeholders in general

• any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization's objectives
  
• persons, groups, and organizations that I need to take into account - those with the power to change the course of the policy and those without power, but still affected
  

Telework stakeholders by role

• security staff who have concerns about the security of worker information on devices at remote locations (US DOPersonnel 2007 Telework Report challenges in message from director)
• Chief Human Capital Officers Council (US DOPersonnel 2007 Telework Report)
• telework as a human capital tool (US DOPersonnel 2007 Telework Report)
• emergency planning groups - pandemic planning, continuity of operations
  
• managers who have concerns about tracking and managing workers in remote locations
• issues identified in DOP 2007 report: human capital, emergency planning, and quality of life
• IT Budget people (see Figure 1 in DOP 2007 - barriers to telework)
• IT manufacturing, consulting, telecommunications providers
  
• State tax policy analysts (see multi-state taxation of telecommuters article)
• Homeshoring - see VIPdesk sponsor of the telework coalition who promotes telecommuting as a way to reduce the cost of employing workers in the US so the companies don't have to Off-shore their work - keep the work on-shore in home.
• See stakeholder list in California's telecommuting pilot project
  

CTPP definition of stakeholders
Primary "Those who are or can be immediately or directly affected by telecommuting."

• telecommuters themselves
• their direct supervisors
• their families and colleagues
• the organizations in which they work
• the organizations with which they work
• organized labor groups
• State government in general

Secondary "Those who have a broad or indirect interest in some of the impacts, such as air quality, energy use, zoning, the economy, management techniques, etc."

• communities in which telecommuters live and/or work
• various agencies of government at the local, state and national levels (in the U.S. as well as in other countries)
• manufacturers and the distribution channels for information technologies and office equipment
• the business community
• the research community
• consumer advocacy
• other special interest groups

Stakeholders - specific groups

• The Telework Coalition - telecommunications provides, companies that sell systems to help manage at-home workers.
• AlpineAccess (see TelCoa) seems to promote telework on the behalf of employees because AlpineAccess is based on a work-at-home model and can attract employees with better telework policies
• JALA - the people who defined the term telecommuting
  

Benefits

• improved moral - DOP 2007
• human capital - DOP 2007
• transportation - DOP 2007
• productivity - DOP 2007
• leave - DOP 2007
• real estate savings - DOP 2007

Stakeholder's and the reasons they give to continue telecommuting

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• Nicole Belson Goluboff, in the multi-state taxation article, offers these reasons why taxaton policy should change: "reduce real estate and energy costs, attract top talent from a nationwide applicant pool while lowering recruitment costs and reduce turnover costs."
• Goluboff considers these groups stakeholders: "stakeholders outside Congress, including telework, taxpayer, small business and homeowner advocates"
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Perspectives/narrowing

• look at different levels (or one) of government - city, regional, county, state, federal - stakeholder types (and individuals) will likely differ depending on level of government
  
• Here is another angle to the "problem domain" for telecommuting - Congress is considering legislation regulating taxation of telecommutes when they live and telecommute in one location, but have an employer in another state - states can tax them twice (sloan work and family research network) - the problem from this perspective is not how teleworking can contribute to solving traffic problems, or reducing gas consumption - it's about how to make tecommuting policy work in a fair way [multi-state taxation of telecommuters article]
  

Alternatives policy strategies for achieving telecommuting transportation goals of reducing VMT (Vehicle miles traveled)

• For Telework to provide significant vehicle travel reductions it must be implemented in conjunction with other TDM strategies that provide an incentive to reduce driving, such as Commute Financial Incentives, Road Pricing, Parking Pricing, Parking Management, Distance-Based Fees, Pay As You Drive Insurance and Fuel Tax Increases. (Victoria Transportation Policy Institute VTPI)
• Telework is often promoted by TDM Programs, Commute Trip Reduction programs and Transportation Management Associations. It is most effective at achieving TDM objectives if matched with disincentives to drive, including and supported by Commute Financial Incentives, Road Pricing, Parking Pricing, Parking Management, Distance-Based Fees, and Fuel Tax Increases.

Possible side-effects of telework

• increases in non-commute trips (VTPI) (do special errands they would have done on their commute)
  
• land use dispersion/increased sprawl (VTPI) (because they travel less to work they can move further away)
• additional home heating or cooling expenses

Downsides

• security
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Other links:

• Berkely report
• Victoria Transport Policy Institute report (references to studies and Puget Sound programs)
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