The agricultural hallmark of the Trump administration, the 2018 farm bill, will be written by Congress for the most part, said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, so it doesn’t matter that Trump will take office without a hand-picked leader at the Agriculture Department. “I don’t think it’s got much to do … with getting the Trump program for agriculture moving,” Grassley told reporters.
“Everybody wishes the pick would come,” Grassley said during a teleconference. Trump’s search for a nominee is the longest since 1933 and has led to grousing in rural America, which voted heavily for the Republican businessman. If Trump picks a northerner, Grassley said, there would be more political rapport with Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania — states that backed Trump.
Trump has not met any candidates for agriculture secretary in the past few days, according to transition spokesman Sean Spicer’s lists of the daily schedule of the president-elect. Agriculture and Veterans Affairs are the last cabinet departments without a nominee.
During the campaign, Trump targeted the Waters of the United States rule for elimination, supported corn ethanol, called for tax reform, lauded farmers and vowed to end over-regulation of agriculture. Many of those elements are outside of USDA’s jurisdiction. The EPA is in charge of the Clean Water act and the biofuels mandate, for example. The trade group Growth Energy said a poll of Trump voters in six Midwestern battleground states found overwhelming support for ethanol and other biofuels to support American jobs.
Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts said the committee will have a busy schedule “as we point our focus to completing a new farm bill. We’re going to take a hard look at what is and isn’t working and we’ll start by listening.” Grassley, an Agriculture Committee member, said, “Congress can move ahead on hearings” with the administration offering its ideas later. Lawmakers are the leaders on drafting the farm bill, he said.
“It is definitely easy to just waste time watching, waiting and wondering” who will be the next agriculture secretary, said news site National Hog Farmer. “The USDA wrapped up final items of business while the agriculture community was distracted.” The site gave three examples: issuance of the so-called GIPSA rule on livestock marketing, a request for dismissal of a lawsuit over the sale of “The Other White Meat” trademarks, and a voluntary program for livestock producers to verify they follow animal-welfare standards.
An American Farm Bureau Federation lobbyist told Successful Farming that “there’s a feeling, a little bit, of being left out” among farmers because of the longer-than-usual search for an agriculture secretary. President Roger Johnson of the National Farmers Union said there were concerns the Trump team, with only a handful of people assigned to the transition at USDA, is unprepared. Farmers believe they were pivotal in electing Trump, Johnson told Successful Farming, “and there’s a growing feeling that’s not being appreciated.”