Vilsack Shares Top Three Priorities
It’s been four weeks since the New Year ball dropped in Times Square. We’ve heard some buzzing from Capitol Hill but wager there is more happening than what we are hearing.
Tom Vilsack, USDA Secretary of Agriculture, recently joined Chip Flory on AgriTalk to provide an update on his latest work in farm country in 2022.
“Rural Extraction Economy”
Vilsack says there is a valuable proposition found in rural places—a concept he has coined rural extraction economy.
“We take things like crops and minerals off the land—we extract them. We transport these goods to someplace else where value is added, wealth and jobs are created
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack says materials like crops and minerals are extracted from the land and transported to another location where value, wealth and jobs are created. He says this is part of what he further describes as a circular economy.
“Local and regional food systems have the ability to take cattle and hogs that are being produced and, instead of trucking them hundreds of miles to get them processed—allowing a large, multinational company to benefit—we create a farmer-owned cooperative or processing facility that allows producer to profit from not only production, but also processing,” says Vilsack. “It’s a circular economy that stays in the community.”
COVID-19 Relief Payments
In 2021, the USDA promised $10 billion in COVID-19 and disaster aid payments for producers. Of the $10 billion, $750,000 was set aside for livestock. Vilsack says these payments have not been made to producers because his department is working to “simplify the payment process” by looking at previous relief payments to decide on a basis.
“A percentage of those basis payments will be made quickly—hopefully by this spring,” says Vilsack. “Then we’ll set up a second payment structure for those who didn’t make a claim.”
Vilsack hopes to have this system established and moving funds no later than spring 2022.
Trade
Earlier this month, Vilsack and Trade Ambassador Katherine Tai announced the Indian government has agreed to allow imports of U.S. pork and pork products into India.
Vilsack says the new opportunity marks the culmination of nearly two decades of work to gain market access for U.S. pork to India – and it signals “positive movement” in U.S.-India trade relations.
The revitalization of the U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum coupled with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and Vietnam’s reduction in tariffs are what Vilsack attributes to record export numbers.
Vilsack also hinted there is a new trade position to be filled at the USDA. While he didn’t share the candidates name, Vilsack says the role will require an “aggressive effort” to measure up to another projected record export year.
