WASHINGTON, Jan. 9, 2017 - Another week has gone by and
there’s still no decision from President-elect Donald Trump on who will be the
next agriculture secretary, but there is activity on the transition front. Two
new names have been added to Trump’s USDA transition “landing team” team and
the three members already on the job are busy paving the way for the next
administration to take over.
Brian Klippenstein, Carrie Castille and Lance Kotschwar are hard at work on the
fifth floor of USDA’s Whitten building, taking meetings with agency officials
and digging through reports and other paperwork on unfinished business from the
current administration in order to smooth the transition.
Russell Laird and Stephen Vaden are expected to join the transition team as
early as this week.
Meanwhile, Trump continued to interview candidates last week for what could be
top USDA slots. But with no announcement, other names are still surfacing in
the rumor mill – including one man who previously served as one of Trump’s
lenders during some of the President-elect’s toughest financial times and knows
a great deal about rural America.
Robert Engel,
who stepped down as CEO of CoBank at the end of last year, was one of Trump’s
main bankers when he was Executive VP and Head of Special Assets for
HSBC/Marine Midland in the 1990’s. He has not been asked for an interview
yet, but Engel said Trump was a “man of his word in all of my dealings
with him. He proved to me he was at his best when times were the toughest.”
One thing is certain: If the decision was up to Sen. Chuck Grassley, it would
have been made quickly. The Iowa Republican Tweeted Sunday
in support of Bill Northey, the Hawkeye State’s agriculture secretary since
2007.
With only about a week and a half until the end of President Barack Obama’s
second term, a decision is expected soon.
Farm groups stress importance of trade to Trump. The new administration
takes over this month and farm groups are letting the president-elect know just
how important it is that foreign markets continue to expand for agricultural
exports from the U.S.
“The importance of trade to America’s farmers and ranchers cannot be
overstated,” said 15 farm groups in a joint
letter to Trump. “The share of U.S. agricultural production exported
overseas is 20% by volume, with some sectors being much higher.”
Beyond promising to pull the U.S. out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific
Partnership trade deal and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement,
Trump has pledged to get tough with trading partners like China.
But China is a major buyer of U.S. farm commodities and the agriculture sector
hopes to see that trade expand.
“Existing markets include China, Canada, and Mexico— U.S. farmers’ first,
second, and third largest foreign customers,” the groups stressed to Trump.
“U.S. agricultural exports in FY-2016 were nearly $27 billion to China, over
$24 billion to Canada, and nearly $19 billion to Mexico. Disrupting U.S.
agricultural exports to these nations would have devastating consequences for
our farmers and the many American processing and transportation industries and
workers supported by these exports.”
The American Farm Bureau Federation, National Farmers Union, National Milk
Producers Federation, National Cotton Council, National Pork Producers Council
and ten other groups signed on to the letter.
Farm Bureau’s Duvall calls on Congress for guest worker reform. American
Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall used his speech at the
group’s annual convention this year to call on Congress and the incoming Trump
administration to make it easier for farmers to hire laborers from south of the
border.
Congress came close to overhauling immigration policy during the Obama
administration. The Senate passed legislation to provide farmers with a more
reliable means to legally employ workers from Mexico and other countries, but
the House never voted on it.
“We must have a new agricultural visa program that actually works for farmers
and farm laborers,” Duvall said at the convention this weekend in Phoenix,
Arizona. “We must find a way for experienced farm workers to legally remain in
the U.S., working on our farms. President-elect Trump cares about immigration
reform. He has talked about it for years, and we know that he wants to find a
solution. We want to solve it, too. And his team has promised us that
agriculture will have a seat at the table. So there is hope, if we take action
and make our voices heard.”
USDA prepares to get an early start on reevaluating livestock reporting system. Congress
has until 2020 to reauthorize USDA’s Mandatory Livestock Reporting Act (LMR)
and the department has until the spring of 2018 to finalize a report on the
program for lawmakers, but USDA is preparing to start the process now.
Mike Lynch, director of USDA’s livestock, poultry and grain market news, said
the Agricultural Marketing Service is getting ready to host a meeting this
spring with meat industry representatives. The goal, Lynch said in an audio posting, is to
gather feedback from companies on what changes or improvements they thing are
needed to keep the program relevant.
All of the feedback will be consolidated into USDA’s 2018 report to Congress,
Lynch said.
“Congress does not necessarily want to see a report that has 20 different
positions that everyone supports differently,” he stressed.
He said it: “The election should send a message—loud and clear—to our
politicians: ignore rural America at your own risk!” That was American Farm
Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall, speaking at the group’s annual
convention. Rural America came out in droves for Donald Trump in the November
election, helping him to beat Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival.
Spencer Chase and Sara Wyant contributed to this report.
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