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Vegan Senator Cory Booker has been appointed a member of the Senate Committee On Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
The New Jersey Democrat was commended last year for proposing a bill to support small-scale farmers and ban factory farming.
He says the current food system has been ‘broken’ by large multinationals.
‘Deeply broken’ system
The committee focuses on agriculture, nutrition, food policy and hunger.
‘Our food system is deeply broken’, Senator Booker said.
He added: “Family farmers are struggling and their farms are disappearing, while big agriculture conglomerates get bigger and enjoy greater profits.
“Meanwhile, healthy, fresh food is hard to find and even harder to afford in rural and urban communities alike.
“In the richest country on the planet, over 35 million Americans from every walk of life are food insecure.”
He said he ‘can’t wait’ to get to work on the committee.
Cory Booker’s eco-friendly plans
As a former Mayor of Newark, Senator Booker said he has witnessed the broken food system ‘first hand’. Large sections of the area are ‘food deserts’, he said, empty of healthy foods.
He hopes to empower family farmers and fight climate change. Work towards this involves the Climate Stewardship Act, a proposal involving the planting of 15 billion trees.
Through introducing the Food and Nutrition Education in Schools Act, Senator Booker secured funding for students to learn more about ‘healthy food practices’.
Vegan advocate
Senator Booker’s work has heavily involved animal advocacy. An example is a bill he introduced in 2018 to curb experiments on monkeys.
He has also spoken out against factory farming. It is necessary to ‘prevent future pandemics’, he said.
