Secretary Of Agriculture Tom Vilsack In Kansas City

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack was in Kansas City at the Farm Broadcasters Convention. It is not unusual to have the secretary of agriculture at the convention, or at least on a teleconference call. It was a little more interesting this year because the convention was just after the rather surprising presidential election. Vilsack knew he would be leaving office at the end of President Obama's term so he talked about the condition of the USDA.

Vilsack did not really talk about the election results other than to express concern about the antitrade rhetoric of the campaign. Foreign trade and exports are very important to farmers in the United States. We export a lot of corn, soybeans, pork, beef, turkey and chicken to many different countries. However, if a country like China needs food for its people, are they going to let them go hungry because of a trade dispute? China might buy as much as possible from another country like Brazil and the United States will become a supplier of last resort. Then again, many times we are anyway.