18. Ken Cook, president and co-founder of the Environmental Working Group

Sustainable Agriculture Policy with Ron Kroese

Ken Cook was a principal architect of landmark provisions of the 1985 farm bill that for the first time shifted U.S. farm policy from a narrow focus on maximum crop production to conservation of land, water, wetlands, and wildlife. The legislation was widely regarded as the most important environmental farm policy reform in decades.

He went on to co-found the Environmental Working Group, which created an online database of federal farm subsidy payments and recipients that has generated thousands of stories about the nation’s broken farm policies.

This week, Ken talks with our host Ron Kroese about the first versions of the farm subsidy payment database as well as his role in Washington, D.C. throughout the years.

Ken and the Environmental Working Group played a similarly prominent role during the crafting of the 2008 and 2014 farm bills, fighting successfully to add conservation requirements on farms that benefit from federally subsidized crop insurance.

Ken continues to serve as president of the Environmental Working Group and is widely recognized as one of the environmental community's most prominent and influential critics of industrial agriculture, U.S. food and farm policy, and the nation's broken approach to protecting families and children from toxic substances.

Under his leadership, the Environmental Working Group has pioneered the use of digital technologies to empower American families with easy-to-use, data-driven tools to help reduce their exposure to potentially harmful ingredients in foods, drinking water, cosmetics, and other household products.

Ken is the founding chairman and board member of Food Policy Action, an organization dedicated to promoting food policy that is protective of the environment, farmers, and consumers through education and the publication of the National Food Policy Scorecard.

The interview was conducted on Dec. 16, 2016.

Links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
Environmental Working Group
EWG’s Farm Subsidy Database

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