Congresswoman Chellie Pingree Explains Why Food Is an Important Issue for All Americans

LIVESTRONG.COM traveled to Washington, D.C., and met with U.S. Congressional leaders and their teams to find out what consumers and citizens need to know about the safety and health of the American food system and what we can do to get involved.

我们采访了一位代表缅因州的民主党的国会议员Chellie Pingree，在Rayburn House Office建筑中作为我们的一部分raybet51 采访系列。

Pingree目前是美国唯一一位在美国国会服务的有机农民。她是食品政策的领导者，包括涉及当地食品，食品垃圾和有机农业的问题。您可以查看Pingree在这里赞助或共同赞助的立法。

根据平庸，农业和我们投入我们的桌子的食物应该是促进共和党人和民主党人之间的差距。

"People want healthy food, and they want it at all economic levels and certainly at all ages," she says. "The truth is today that the majority of parents who choose to buy baby food go with organic. And they do so because a parent of any economic level is worried from the start about what they're going to put in their kid."

Pingree指出，这是一个人在整个食物或沃尔玛购物。

“沃尔玛尝试是最大的零售商of organic foods in the country right now, and they wouldn't be going after that market if they didn't think that everyone at every income level wanted to eat more organic food," she says.

她解释说，局部种植的产量也对美国人很重要。

"I'm pretty convinced from the people I talk to that wherever you are economically and wherever you are politically that people want to buy more locally grown produce," Pingree says. "They love the idea that they would know who the farmer was and they could know where it came from."

Pingree's efforts have included making it easier to use SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits to purchase local food.

“我现在有一个票据来支持更多有机研究，因为随着我们的利益在有机食品中提出，我们的供应在这个国家下降，”她说。“我们实际上进口了更多的玉米和小麦，这些玉米和小麦在我们的国家以外的生长而不是我们以前所拥有的，因为我们不能在这里得到它们。”

Farming takes a lot of work, and Pingree says she didn't come to her position with any particular ideology, but rather more of a "commonsense idea of how you get things done."

根据平庸的说法，作为国会的成员，持续存在，并易于与公众处理。

"I've always had a farm stand, and today I own a restaurant and an inn in addition to the farm, so I'm very comfortable dealing with the public or people's complaints or the issues. You kind of get a thick skin, and you're not uncomfortable working hard."

平再表示，她担心环境保护局（EPA）以及美国农业部（美国农业部）所取得的一些裁决。

“我在华盛顿的一位工作是一个看门狗，反击 - 无论是统治他们在化学品上所做的那些应该有更多的测试或在美国农业部之前的规则所​​做的一些问题更多指令关于确保自由放养的鸡实际上是在地区的范围内，在草地上啄食，拾起臭虫的健康营养，“Pingree解释道。

她在两个委员会上担任一项监督美国农业部监督美国农业部的委员会的一个委员会。

“你可以随时关注我们。我们经常追求他们 - 无论是关于化学品如圆形那which we see too much of today, or some of the rules that govern how we technically administer the organic farming regulations and making sure that they're strict and that everyone follows the right rules," she says.

据平庸，消费者和公民可以取得巨大差异。一种方式是用我们的钱包和我们选择如何花钱的方式投票。

“如果你从路上从当地农场购买食物或你加入CSA，你就会表现出你关心他们所做的事情，有时你愿意付出一点额外的费用以确保他们可以留在商业中。你在眼中看着他们说：'我希望你告诉我这是如何成长的，“她说。

Pingree points out that contacting your state legislators and members of Congress is incredibly important because they count the emails and phone calls they get on each issue.

“如果我们听到的所有人都是非常融资的主要食物游说者 - 事实上，山上还有更多的游说者，在国防工业中花费更多的钱，食品加工和农业比在线上花费更多的钱人们不经常理解，“她解释道。“所以我们需要听到你的任何声音。”

有关：Congresswoman Mia Love Encourages Women to Step Up and Lean In

看到更多的Livestrongraybet51 采访。

JESS BARRON is Editor-in-Chief and GM for LIVESTRONG.COM, a leading healthy lifestyle website with more than 32 million unique monthly viewers. In addition to LIVESTRONG, her writing has appeared in企业家那Fortuneandmydomaine.。她受访了她对女企业家的建议那HuffingtonPostandFabFitFun。Jess has appeared on MSNBC, CNN and ABC News and一直是健康的主题演讲者和小组成员SXSW那创造和培育和数字好莱坞。在Instagram上关注JessandTwitter在@jessbeegood！！