This commentary is by Daniel Smith of East Montpelier. He is founding executive director of the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact and founding executive director of the Agritech Institute for Small Farms.
The nation and Vermont have lost a noteworthy but unsung public servant, Ed Barron.
Longtime staffer for Sen. Patrick Leahy, Ed was the go-to expert on the Hill for our nation’s nutrition programs. Over many years and as part of a number of Farm Bills, Ed worked to establish and improve the National School Lunch Program, which has provided reduced-cost lunch for millions of children, and the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children, which has provided feeding assistance for millions of infants and young children.
Ed also worked on development of the McGovern-Dole program that provides food to school children around the world. This program is estimated to have provided food to more than 50 million children and led to a substantial increase in school attendance by girls in developing countries.
Ed lent his legislative expertise and skills to a number of issues involving the nation’s rural landscape. His efforts improved food safety, strengthened the farm credit system and advanced the nation’s conservation effort during its first formative period.
Leahy paid tribute to Ed’s work in his memoir, “The Road Taken.” The senator credited Ed with being one of the leaders of “a team of staff that … left their legislative marks on nutrition, conservation, and dairy support programs in Vermont and the entire nation for years to come.”
Ed also served Vermont in an unusual bipartisan way, working across the aisle for Leahy and Sen. Jim Jeffords during his long congressional career. Ed served for most of his career as senior staff and legal counsel to Leahy on the Senate Committees on Agriculture and Judiciary. Toward the end of his long service, Ed served also as the deputy chief of staff to Jeffords on the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works.
It was my true professional privilege and personal joy to have had the opportunity to work with Ed on the Hill. He was an incomparable guide, leader and collaborator. He deftly shaped language and strategy, and confronted adversity and challenge with skill, composure and always with a wonderful twinkle in his eye. The only time I ever saw him get even a bit frustrated was when he really thought he had me, but didn’t, in one of our endless pingpong matches. Rest in peace, my friend.
