The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture will consider continuing to serve if asked.
According to a news release from the Governors Biofuels Coalition, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has indicated that he will consider continuing his service if Democrats retain the White House in the upcoming November election and he is asked to remain in the role.
A four-year reappointment would tie Vilsack, former Iowa governor, with James “Tama Jim” Wilson, the nation’s longest-serving cabinet member. Wilson, another Iowan, served as agriculture secretary for 16 years under three U.S. presidents, from 1897 to 1913. Born in Scotland and raised in Tama County, Wilson attended what is now Grinnell College.
Vilsack has already served two terms as agriculture secretary under President Barack Obama and is completing a term under President Joe Biden.
Speaking at the Farm Progress Show, held near Boone, Iowa, Vilsack shared how his experience as a lawyer during the 1980s Farm Crisis shaped his career. Representing farmers facing foreclosure, he said, changed his “entire view of what I was going to do with my life.”
“From that point on, I dedicated my life to doing what I could to create opportunities for rural communities and for small town folks — and for farmers and ranchers and producers who lived around those small towns,” said Vilsack, who previously served as mayor of Mount Pleasant and was elected governor of Iowa in 1998.
Vilsack, along with members of Congress and state leaders, joined farmers at the Farm Progress Show to discuss pressing issues such as trade, the upcoming farm bill, and animal diseases like bird flu, which has moved from poultry to other livestock.
“I don’t know what … the future holds, but whatever it holds, I’m going to continue to do what I’ve been doing for the last 40 years. It’s important. It’s necessary, and it’s fun,” Vilsack said.
