The Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) responds positively to the announcement today that President-elect Barack Obama has selected former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack as his pick for Secretary of Agriculture.
“The Iowa Soybean Association sees the Vilsack selection as positive for agriculture,” says ISA President John Heisdorffer, a farmer from Keota. “There’s nowhere we’d rather see the Secretary of Agriculture come from than one of the leading states in ag production.”
ISA looks forward to working with our former governor on the issues that are important to us. Three of those critical issues are: (1) implementing the new farm bill; (2) continued support for biotechnology; and (3) aggressive efforts to expand trade agreements in order to gain further access to international markets for soybeans.
Vilsack understands the challenges that production agriculture faces, as well as the importance of developing opportunities. He has voiced commitment to energy and food security and is supportive of the renewable fuels movement, having chaired the Governors Ethanol Coalition and endorsed the “25 by ‘25” goal, to produce 25 percent of the nation’s energy supply from renewable sources by 2025.