It took little more than a shake of the head and a few reproachful words for House Agriculture chairman Kika de la Garza to sink a Clinton-era proposal to change the USDA’s name to the Department of Food and Agriculture. “It would better reflect what USDA actually does and where the dollars are spent,” said Dan Glickman, the agriculture secretary who brought the idea to Capitol Hill as part of a reorganization of the department and its myriad duties.
The debate over USDA’s name and its mission reverberates in the tussle over who will be agriculture secretary in the Biden administration. Two-thirds of the USDA budget is spent on public nutrition and a third of its employees work for the Forest Service — far more than at any other USDA agency — but in its name and often in its focus, agriculture is preeminent, especially the farm subsidy system created during the Great Depression.
Former North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a co-founder of an organization that tried to improve Democrats’ standing in rural America, is regarded as the frontrunner for the nomination — a moderate with a track record with the farm sector. Progressives, five dozen anti-hunger groups and three union leaders back Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge, one of the foremost advocates in Congress for SNAP and other public feeding programs. Several other candidates have been mentioned, including Tom Vilsack, agriculture secretary for President Obama.
Advocates say President-elect Biden’s selection of a nominee for agriculture secretary will have symbolic and practical effect. To her supporters, Fudge could be a transformative leader who gives attention to the food safety net for hungry Americans, often overshadowed by the farm safety net. Heitkamp backers say she could be a link to rural Americans; USDA runs economic development programs for small towns and rural areas as well as farm supports.
“Whomever is appointed the new secretary, it is important to demonstrate to the world that this is a department that does many things: Agriculture, nutrition and feeding programs, forestry, conservation, science and research, food safety, international trade [and] risk management,” said Glickman over the weekend. “Touches everybody’s life more than most departments.”
As Glickman indicated, the agriculture secretary has a large portfolio, ranging from the national forests and agricultural research to SNAP, WIC and farm subsidies. The USDA has thousands of local offices across the nation, dealing directly with farmers and ranchers. While it writes the rules for SNAP and WIC, state social-service agencies are the front-line administrators.
Mike Espy, the first Black congressman elected from the South since Reconstruction, created a stir in the early 1990s by elevating rural development and dealing with a meat-safety scare during his short tenure as agriculture secretary. Beside being the first Black, he was the first southerner to head USDA. Farm groups from big-producing Midwest and Plains wanted assurances that Espy understood issues in their part of the country. Espy started the USDA reorganization that Glickman completed.
“As I recall, Kiki and others weren’t too enthused about the [name] change and we dropped it,” said Glickman, using de la Garza’s nickname.
Ann Veneman, the first woman to serve as agriculture secretary, strengthened safeguards following the discovery of the first case of mad-cow disease in the United States in December 2003. Many nations banned imports of U.S. beef in response to the discovery of mad cow in a “downer” cow in Washington State. Despite a USDA career that included a stint as deputy secretary and service as California agriculture secretary, Veneman faced pushback from farm-state lawmakers as a Westerner. At least one USDA official believed sexism was a factor.
Since USDA became a cabinet department in 1889, most agriculture secretaries have been white males from the Midwest. In recent years, farm groups have come to regard the USDA as their advocate in Washington and ready to intercede with federal agencies such as EPA over biofuels and environmental rules, IRS on taxes or FDA on food marketing.