KDSN Radio

Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack isn’t ruling out another stint as U-S Agriculture Secretary if Kamala Harris wins and asks him to continue in the role.

“I’ve dedicated my life to try to figure out ways in which I can help farmers and small towns because of the important role they play in the country,” Vilsack said. “Regardless of where I might be or what I might be doing, I hope that I’m able to continue to contribute in that vein because that’s what I’ve done for the last 40 years and that’s what I hope to be able to continue to do until I take my last breath.”
Vilsack served eight years as U.S. Ag Secretary during the Obama Adminsitration and has been President Biden’s Secretary of Agriculture since 2021, an 11 and a half year stretch.

The nation’s longest serving Ag Secretary was from Iowa. “Tama Jim” Wilson, a farmer from Traer who served in the Iowa legislature and the U.S. congress, was ag secretary for 16 years, during the administrations of Presidents McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and Taft. Vilsack, who is 74, was elected mayor of Mount Pleasant in 1987, then served in the state senate before he was elected to two terms as Iowa’s governor.

Vilsack, who spoke with reporters yesterday at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, indicated he would not comment on Governor Reyonlds’ request for a waiver from a USDA program, so she can provide state-purchased food to needy families with kids next summer. The USDA program provides electronic benefits cards to families during the summer months if a child in the household qualifies for a free or reduced price lunch during the school year.

“I want the state to have the opportunity to have their waiver request examined,” Vilsack said, “so I don’t want to make a comment about it while it’s being considered.”

The governors of 43 states have signed up for the U-S-D-A program for the summer of 2025. Vilsack told reporters research shows it’s “the most successful way” to make sure youngsters have “appropriate nutrition” in the summer months.

“It was not something that we just cooked up in the back room. It was something that is based on 10 years of research and that research basically indicated when you provide the resources to the families, those resources will be used by the families in the most appropriate way,” Vilsack said, “and that they will be used to actually purchase nutritious offerings to their children.”

Reynolds has said the state will be able to provide more and better food, by making bulk purchases of food that’s nutritious.