Feds visit Lathrop to see eco-friendly farming

Two high-ranking officials in the Obama administration climbed aboard a tractor Tuesday to hear about gentle treatment of the land. Vegetable grower Dino Del Carlo played host to Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan and Bob Perciasepe, deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Del Carlo told them about conservation tillage, which involves sowing seeds through the previous crop's stubble and reducing the number of times a tractor runs through a field each season. They talked in a tomato field that had been harvested Sunday and was being prepared for another crop. It was a breezy afternoon in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. "Even though there is dust that you can see, it is much less than it used to be," said Perciasepe, who is second in command to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. He and Merrigan, who works for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, had a lofty view from the cab of a John Deere 9530T, which did not move while they were on board...more

So why didn't the tractor move?

Was the weight too much?

Did the farmer not want to waste one drop of diesel on these dolts from DC?

Was the farmer told not to start or move the tractor while these two reps of the Obama Fedzilla were aboard?

Why go out in a field, climb aboard a tractor...and just sit there?