Joe Biden’s choice of Tom Vilsack for agriculture secretary is causing concern for some small farmers due to Vilsack’s relationship with big industrial agriculture businesses and the potential for more regulations under a Democrat administration, reports The New York Times.
Farmers have already taken a huge hit due to the U.S.’ trade tiffs with China and the COVID-19 pandemic. They also experienced a nearly 50% drop in net farm income as the prices for corn, wheat, dairy, beef, and other farm products crashed. More U.S. farmers are also filing for bankruptcy as federal payments projected to reach record levels this year fell short of compensating for the pandemic, per the Wall Street Journal.
Vilsack served in the same role for nearly the entirety of the Obama administration before he began work as a lobbying executive for the dairy industry.
“I think he’ll fold under pressure from the ag lobby, the subsidy lobby, and big agriculture,” Ken Cook, president of Environmental Working Group, a nonpartisan organization that is critical of industrial agriculture, told the Times. “I really do feel as if we needed fresh leadership there on a number of grounds.”
“If past is prologue we have strong concerns that he will continue to do bidding of industry,” added Zach Corrigan, a senior staff lawyer at Food & Water Watch, a consumer and environmental watchdog group.
Biden referred to Vilsack as “the best secretary of agriculture I believe our country has ever had” and Vilsack said he would tackle racial issues within the USDA and make climate change a top policy priority.
“We plan to hold his feet to the fire. If he were willing to work on checkoff reform, we’re all for it,” Angela Huffman, vice president of programs and development at Family Farm Action, told Successful Faming. “[T]he dairy crisis has just been so pronounced. … It’s even more urgent than ever.”
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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