herb kohl

This week Wisconsin kicked off an annual tradition, the Wisconsin State Fair in West Allis, WI.  As a part of the Opening Day activities, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack hosted a White House Rural Council Forum with businesses and community leaders, farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers from across the State.

There is much we adults can learn from children, and one of them is being able to appreciate the simple things. I was at the Milwaukee Sign Language School in Milwaukee for a celebration of School Breakfast Week. I was thrilled by the students’ delight as Active Apple (Milwaukee Public Schools’ nutrition and fitness mascot) and Power Panther (USDA’s nutrition and fitness mascot) strolled into their classrooms.

The hearing-impaired students watched with rapt attention as their teachers signed to them about the mascots and special guests.  All the children seemed thrilled with the Active Apple pins and bookmarks the special guests distributed to them. Best of all, they clearly liked the calming routine of picking up their breakfast bags and eating at their desks. The cold breakfast, served in a simple paper box, was simple yet satisfying, as evidenced by the disappearing Multi-grain Cheerios, milk, juice and cereal bars.

More and more of the nation’s children are starting their school day well-nourished and ready to learn with a nutritious breakfast at school. Studies confirm the importance of breakfast in optimizing children’s learning, attendance and classroom behavior. Drawing a conclusion that our mothers knew all along – that breakfast matters!

During these hard economic times we know that one of the best ways to help aid our Country in the recovery process is to assist and build businesses that create jobs, and spur growth. In Wisconsin, we had the opportunity to celebrate and highlight our successful efforts from the past year.

USDA Rural Development Rural Business and Cooperative Programs Administrator, Judith Canales, joined U.S. Senator Herbert Kohl and USDA Rural Development Wisconsin State Director, Stan Gruszynski, at a luncheon event honoring Ridgestone Bank in Brookfield, Wis. Ridgestone Bank was the number one Business and Industry (B&I) Guaranteed Loan Program lender in the Nation in 2010.

USDA Agriculture Secretary Vilsack kicked off the third in a series of five workshops on competition in agriculture today. Speaking to a packed house of more then 500 small and large dairy farmers, FFA members and members of the public at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Vilsack highlighted the struggles of those living in rural America and the need to explore the appropriate role for antitrust and regulatory enforcement in the dairy industry.