Thicke Wins Mock Election
I visited the Johnson County Fair on Thursday night and visited a booth holding a mock election of the November ballot. The election results are in. The results were good for Democrats, perhaps to be expected in Johnson county. I was particularly pleased to see that I had beaten the Republican incumbent, Bill Northey, with 61% of the vote for me [...]
My letter to the Editor
Below is a letter to the editor I wrote in response to a letter sent to a newspaper criticizing an article about me. Correcting State Agriculture Facts Letter to the Editor by Francis Thicke · July 28, 2010 I appreciate that Willard Salemink has joined in the discussion on the energy future of Iowa agriculture. [...]
Jon Stewart on Presidential Energy Rhetoric
If you enjoy Jon Stewart’s daily news with a comedic twist and are concerned that we never seem to get beyond talking about energy independence in this country, you will like Stewart’s review of the energy rhetoric of the last eight Presidents. Energy self-sufficiency for agriculture – and the country as a whole – is [...]
Pesticide Residues in Food Associated with ADHD
The Washington Post (June 1) covered a new study on the connection between pesticide residues in food and ADHD in children. The study in the journal Pediatrics found that nearly 95% of children had at least one pesticide metabolite in their urine, and those with above average levels were more than twice as likely to [...]
Engines With No Carbon Footprint
I had a very inspiring tour of the Hydrogen Engine Center in Algona, Iowa a couple days ago. They have created internal combustion engines that will run on either hydrogen or ammonia. What makes these engines so exciting is parallel technology that is under development right now to create wind turbines that can make hydrogen [...]
Des Moines Register – Sunday Edition: Planting false hopes with patented seeds
Is it surprising corporations that sell genetically modified (GM) seeds are telling us they can save Africa with their patented seeds?
On-Farm Biofuels Production
Yesterday I visited a farmer, Lee McClune, from Knoxville Iowa who has designed a complete system for making ethanol from sweet sorghum on the farm. That is exactly in line with one of the top issues in my campaign: farmer-owned, on-farm energy systems that can sustainably produce energy on a farm to power the farm. [...]
New Alert on Chemicals and Cancer
The President’s Cancer Panel will release a new report today calling for stronger regulation of chemicals to reduce cancer risk, reports Nicholas Kristof in today’s New York Times. Among its recommendations is one advising consumers to give preference to food grown without pesticides, chemical fertilizers and growth hormones – in short, organic food. The three-member [...]
Hogging the Profits
Free trade agreements, like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), have been touted as a boon for American agriculture. But who really profits? An analysis by two Tufts University researchers makes a strong case that it is multinational corporations that profit, at the expense of farmers, workers and communities. In their policy brief, the [...]
Thank You Thicke Supporters!
The results are in and Francis won in a landslide! In an online poll by Marion County radio station KNIA/KRLS, asking whether listeners supported Francis Thicke or Bill Northey for Secretary of Agriculture, Francis won 72% to 28%. We all know online polls are unscientific, so we don’t take this too seriously and neither should [...]