I’ve signed up to be on Food Democracy Now’s e-mail list so I can help advocate for better food policies for all of us. The latest advocacy effort is asking Agriculture Secretary to help organic farmers get more land to grow their crops. Below is an e-mail I received from Food Democracy Now – give it a read.

It’s time to end the bureaucratic squabbling at the USDA and put beginning and minority farmers first.

What new and minority farmers need most is access to affordable land — unfortunately USDA officials are stalling a potential solution.

A new program created by sustainable agriculture advocates in the 2008 Farm Bill, called the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Transition Option, offers incentives to land owners enrolled in the CRP to sell or lease the land to beginning and minority farmers using sustainable or organic practices at the end of CRP contracts.

Currently, 4.3 million acres enrolled in CRP are about to leave the program and this land is badly needed by the next generation of farmers to overcome the greatest obstacle to new farmers – affordable land.2

Unfortunately the USDA’s bureaucratic wrangling and fear of lawsuits is holding up implementation of this vital program. Rather than release the land as it should be under new Farm Bill rules, the USDA is holding it up with an unnecesary environmental impact study. Any further delay will deny beginning and minority farmers the opportunity to get access to the land they need in the next 2 years.3

Please join Food Democracy Now! by asking Secretary Vilsack to implement the Conservation Reserve Program Transition Option now.

Our beginning and minority farmers don’t have a moment to waste.

Interesting information, huh? If you’re interested in sending a quick, online message to the Secretary, click here. If you believe that quality food provides a large benefit to our society, then I encourage you to send the Secretary a message.

Here’s the short version of the story. On Tuesday, one of my clients submitted a request to draw down money from their loan. On Wednesday, I alerted the leader of the part of my company that handles draw downs that a big request was coming. On Thursday, I submitted the draw down request. On Friday, I receive a phone call from the secretary who processes the draw downs and one of my company’s Vice Presidents. The secretary is both frantic at the large dollar amount of the request and upset that she did not receive a head’s up about the request.

My response on the phone was that our company has a process to draw down large dollar amounts so we should be following that process. I added that I happened to be following the process as proscribed in our policy manual down to the last letter. I also said that I reported that this request was coming on Wednesday so I couldn’t comment on why the report did not get to the secretary since my report was given to her superior.

Apparently, I did something wrong in that exchange. Go back and re-read those two, short paragraphs. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Yesterday, I come into the office and within an hour my supervisor comes into my office and closes the door because she wants to talk about this draw down request. She reiterates the secretary’s concerns and I state to my supervisor that not only did I follow the procedures down to the very last letter, but that I went out of my way to alert the other department that a large request was coming. She agrees completely. However, because someone in the other department (the other department consists of the secretary, her supervisor, and one other person) complained, my supervisor needed to speak with me about what happened. So, again, I told the my supervisor what the problem was as I saw it and that the real issue seems to be that the other department – aside from having too much time on their hands – doesn’t know the procedures. My supervisor reluctantly tends to agree and suggests that the entire “situation” be left alone to die.

Frankly, I didn’t think that there was a “situation” to begin with. Why didn’t I think there was a situation? That’s an easy one to answer – because I have a job that requires my brain to focus and function on other issues! The fact that there are people employed by my company who have time enough in their day to make a mountain out of nothing (it’s not even a molehill – it’s NOTHING) is astounding!

The unprofessional act that I see in this entire debacle is that the wrong person was “spoken to” for five minutes behind a closed door. Clearly, the secretary not only didn’t do her job, but she acted out in a frantic, childish manner when she didn’t understand something (which speaks to her education level and level of professionalism). Here’s a lesson to everyone out there – in this situation, you do NOT sit down with the person who is bringing in millions of dollars for the company and happens to be carrying at least half of the organization’s salary load. No. In fact, the person that you sit down with is the secretary and ask her why she had a breakdown in communication and couldn’t call the person submitting the draw down (me) directly and in a non-frantic manner to ask two simple questions.

Further, when the person submitting the request (me) went out of his way to alert the other department that a large request was coming, you thank that person for their diligence in making sure the process works smoothly.

And a final note on the unprofessional parts of this situation – neither the Vice President who listened to the secretary’s complaints or my supervisor took the time to read through the organization’s policy manual to determine who was right and who was wrong (or, in this case, who was overreacting). Why did they not do this very simple review? That’s easy. This organization and its people always take the path of least resistance. In other words, they know that they can either “speak to” me or with the uneducated and overly emotional secretary to resolve this situation. They know that talking to me will end in one result and talking to her will end in an outward bitterness from her toward her associates and an increase in her already unprofessional attitude. By the way, my response to my supervisor after the brief five minute discussion was, “Look, I really don’t have time for this. I appreciate that they have a lot of time on their hands in the other department, but I have work to do so if the shit is going to roll downhill and land on me, then so be it. Let’s get back to work already.”

Which person do you think they’re going to “talk to” about this? Obviously they’re going to talk to me about it. Why incite an already unprofessional person to be even worse?

And that’s the larger issue that this situation uncovers. My company always takes the path of least resistance. They never, as the Greek philosopher Pythagoras suggested, “Choose always the way that seems best, however rough it may be. Custom will soon render it easy and agreeable.” The problem is that always taking the easy way out allows for an unprofessional person (or persons) to dig their heels in and really take a hold of an organization to the point of destroying it.

That bothers me sometimes – that my organization will be destroyed because of uneducated, underperforming employees. Very scary…

In the mean time, check out New Jersey Carpet Cleaning for the best carpet cleaning in the Garden State!

For example, did you know that according the USDA and FDA guidelines, some forms of Keebler’s snack crackers are “Smart Choice” products? How does that even pass the smell test?! Some text from the Food Democracy Now campaign:

The Smart Choices program was dreamed up by giant food conglomerates like ConAgra, General Mills, Kellogg’s, Kraft, PepsiCo, Tyson Foods and Unilever, together with some industry “experts.” They say its purpose is to help consumers make “smarter food and beverage choices,” but you’ll be surprised to see what they define as a “Smart Choice”: things like Froot Loops®, Keebler Cookie Crunch® and Lucky Charms®.

How about the gumption on the folks that decided Lucky Charms are a “Smart Choice” option? Sickening. Through the use of Food Democracy’s online submission form, it took me no time at all to submit a pre-formatted letter to both the USDA and the FDA regarding the use of these “Smart Choice” labels. The text of the message that was sent is listed below. I encourage you to use the link above to send a message that deceptive labeling is unacceptable.

Dear Secretary Sebelius & Secretary Vilsack,

We urge you to investigate a new front of package (FOP) labeling initiative known as the Smart Choices® Program for potential deceptive and misleading claims to American consumers. At a time when our nation’s children are suffering from an epidemic of obesity and type II diabetes, leading food manufacturers should be trying to encourage eating healthier meals and not peddle overly processed foods high in sugar, fat or salt.

Unfortunately, the new program, led by many of our nation’s largest food corporations, has created a set of standards so loose that products like Froot Loops®, Keebler Cookie Crunch® and Lucky Charms® are eligible for the Smart Choices® label.

It’s outrageous that American companies would try to push food products loaded with as much as 44% sugar on parents who are desperately trying to feed their children healthy meals. Please stand up for our nation’s children and only allow healthy, nutritious foods to achieve this type of voluntary labeling. If this administration is serious about children’s health and nutrition they will enforce strict guidelines related to food products geared towards children and will not allow corporations to engage in deceptive or misleading labeling practices.

If you interested in sending a message to the USDA and the FDA (which takes moments to do), then please head over to this link and check it out.

Below is the bulk of a text of an e-mail that I sent to one of the leaders at my job. The purpose was to explain all of the problems that I’m having with the insurance – frankly, some of this stuff is insane…

Prescriptions: The most aggravating issue that I have is the prescription coverage. My doctor prescribed a certain drug for a condition that I have, but he gave me free samples to use first. Once the free samples were completed, I tried to get the prescription filled and the pharmacy told me that the insurance company didn’t cover the medicine (first they said I wasn’t in their system – a recurring theme as you’ll see). Instead, I have to take two generics – the free samples that my doctor gave me were working very well, too. I don’t mind taking the generics, but now I’m inconvenienced with taking two pills instead of one.

Additionally, I tried to fill the generic prescriptions and one was approved with no problem while the insurance company wouldn’t immediately approve the second one. They wanted additional information from my doctor, which the pharmacy requested. The Pharmacist said that the process should take no longer than 2 – 3 business days, so given the upcoming holiday, I might not be able to get my medication until after Labor Day. [Note: I wrote this e-mail on Wednesday, September 2nd]

Gym Reimbursement: The insurance company has a Healthy Lifestyles program that I am enrolled in. This program offers $150 for reimbursement of gym membership expenses if you go the gym 120 times in a given year. When I switched to my new gym in March I asked if it was covered in the program and they said yes. On a following call with the insurance company, they told me that the visits to this gym would only count if they were made in between certain times of the day (basically when we’re at work). That effectively kills my ability to claim this reimbursement and it makes their program useless.

Request for Information: In one of these calls to the insurance company, I asked them for a package of information that detailed all of my benefits because I, unfortunately, lost the package that the secretary gave me when I was hired (I lost it in the move to Tinton Falls). They sent me a package for those members who are 65+ years old living in Somerset County. I called them back and told them that they must have the wrong guy and that I was 28 and living in Monmouth County while being employed in Mercer County. They apologized and sent out a new package…the same package as the first time. So I threw out both packages since I’m not a senior citizen living in Somerset County and gave up trying to ask them for a listing of my benefits.

Delta Dental: When I went to the dentist two weeks ago, I had to wait an hour before I could be seen by the doctor because the assistant was told by Delta Dental that I wasn’t in the system. Apparently, she called a few days prior to my visit and I wasn’t in the system then, either. I gave her our office contact information, but I was in the dentist’s office at 8am for an 8:15am appointment so there wasn’t anyone in our office who could help that early on a Friday morning. After waiting on hold and going back and forth with the insurance company, I was magically found in Delta Dental’s system and able to see the dentist at 9am.

Optometrist: The insurance company subcontracts their vision coverage to a vision company. I went to the eye doctor about four weeks ago and it took them over an hour to figure out how to bill me AFTER I had seen the doctor. They were on the phone with the insurance company who took no ownership over their contract with the vision company and said that I wasn’t even in their system (they eventually found me). So the eye doctor’s office called the vision company, who said to contact the insurance company. This went back and forth until someone finally got on the phone and figured out what to do and how to bill me.

Pearle Vision: When I was getting my glasses at Pearle Vision, the person helping me pulled up our company’s specific plan with the vision company and it cited that we had a really great plan that covered some parts of the equipment (great discount on lenses). Then when he called the insurance company to get some confirmation number, they wouldn’t speak to him and put him through to the vision company, who bounced him back to the insurance company, who ultimately said that we had no equipment coverage. The folks at Pearle Vision were baffled since their information (which had been updated about two weeks earlier) clearly showed all of the equipment coverage that we should be getting on our plan.

This is where my e-mail ends. However, there is an addition to this mess…

Nutritionist: It turns out that my nutritionist visit (which is essentially preventive care – the stuff that everyone in America should be engaged in) is not covered either. You see, my nutritionist is not registered as a medical care provider and thus can only enter a certain billing code to the insurance company. Well, my plan doesn’t accept that billing code – they only accept nutritionists that bill as medical offices. So I have to pay for this visit out of my pocket.

Here’s my question – if I’m paying for health insurance and I have all of these needs that aren’t being met by the insurance company…why am I paying for health insurance again?