By now, you may have heard that President-elect Trump has nominated Brooke Rollins of Texas to serve as his U.S. Ag Secretary and Stephen Vaden of Tennessee to become the Deputy Secretary of Agriculture. Both nominees have received significant praise from one of Indiana’s top ag leaders.
“I’m very pleased with these two choices and I think they’ll serve agriculture not only well but very well,” says Indiana native Ted McKinney, CEO of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA). McKinney previously served as USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs during President Trump’s first administration.
He says that Rollins is a great choice to lead USDA.
“I think perhaps the most important thing that we, in agriculture, should look at—and clearly that the President looked at—was to get someone that he trusts completely, that has his ear, and for us in ag, that the vice versa is true, that he has her trust and so forth. I think that is clearly the case,” says McKinney. “Her role most recently in the last Trump Administration as Chair of the Domestic Policy Council—that is no slouch position, let me just tell you, that is an important role.”
He also points to her life-long connection with agriculture.
“Most people may not have heard her much because she’s not been in the ag industry solely for her career, but at Texas A&M, her degree is in Ag Development. Then through her time going through law school, leading a not-for-profit, then at the White House, she dealt with ag issues—just not as publicly as perhaps you and I would see—not in the headlines every day, so the fact that she’s got those ag chops and has the trust of the President and vice versa is great by me,” he says.
McKinney also has high praise for Stephen Vaden, whom he worked with directly at USDA.
“He was the General Counselor at USDA—a position that doesn’t always get a lot of notoriety, but he is a ‘smart cookie’,” says McKinney. “He knows the law—that was affirmed when he was selected to be the judge of the International Trade Court. He comes from a farm in Tennessee and is a Vanderbilt graduate, so I think he has a very good and broad perspective that is going to support Brooke Rollins very well.”
Rollins and Vaden will both need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before assuming their new roles at USDA. The department has 29 agencies, over 106,000 federal employees, and a budget of more than $437 billion.
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