The Public Record
Thomas J. Vilsack is the current United States Secretary of Agriculture, having been appointed by President Joe Biden. He previously served in the same role under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017. Vilsack, a member of the Democratic Party, has focused on issues such as agricultural sustainability, rural development, and support for farmers, particularly in the context of climate change and conservation practices. His recent statements emphasize the importance of expanding credit opportunities for beginning farmers and ensuring access to technical assistance for conservation efforts.
If those budget cuts, even the most conservative budget cut, that is to say, putting it back to levels of several years ago, would result, not in an increase in Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)…
we would like to be able to open up more credit opportunities for beginning farmers
the goal of this budget, frankly, is to invest in a stronger America, and to expand our middle class
This budget is at a critical point, at a transformational point, in my view, in rural America, and in agriculture.
investments in research that create new opportunities; new income opportunities, is a way of maintaining those small- and mid-sized farming operations
An inclusive agriculture and rural life must be part of a shift to a bottom-up, middle-out system.
Unless we decouple, unless we figure out ways in which we can encourage reinvestment back in these facilities, and continue to provide housing that is affordable for folks, we are going to have a serious problem in communities.
Every dollar of research generates twenty dollars, or more, of economic opportunity.
We need to reduce methane, and we can. There are strategies, and we also need to capture it and convert it.
we have had a record year in farm income in the last 2 years; however, that bounty has not been fully shared by all farmers