Wednesday, 10 March 2021 14:55

Back to the future

Written by Staff Reporters

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Tom Vilsack has been confirmed to take up his old role as the head of the US Department of Agriculture.

Former US agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack has been confirmed to take up to his old role as the head of the US Department of Agriculture.

Following a Senate vote last month, Vilsack returns to the job he held under the Obama administration in new President Joe Biden’s cabinet. His nomination met little resistance in the Senate, which only set aside 20 minutes for debate over his nomination.

While farm groups welcomed the nomination of Vilsack, Biden faces some political headwinds in the US farm sector.

In the first Farm Journal Pulse to gauge support for the Biden Administration, only 14% of the 1,459 farmers surveyed said they approve of the job done by the new administration.

Of those surveyed, 75% said they strongly disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling his job as President.

At his confirmation hearing, Vilsack noted that while he is returning to his former job, the circumstances are very different.

Vilsack served as USDA Secretary for nearly the entirety of the Obama administration, from 2009 until 2017.

After leaving USDA, he was chief executive of the U.S. Dairy Export Council.

Prior to his first stint as agriculture secretary, Vilsack was Governor of Iowa from 1999-2007.

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