The names keep circulating. Today’s possible leading choices include:
- Abel Maldonado: A former Lt. Gov. for the State of California, Maldonado is the oldest son of immigrant farm workers. He grew up picking strawberries next to his father. Now, he is the owner of Runway Vineyards in Santa Maria. CA. At first glance, his becoming Secretary would seem to help the ag industries that depend upon immigrants to maintain their businesses.
- Ray Starling: Currently, Starling serves as General Counsel for the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce. He was Chief of Staff to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue in the first Trump administration. Starling also served as principal adviser to the President during Trump’s first term.
Other well-qualified candidates who in recent days seem to be under serious consideration are:
- Kip Tom, a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, is an Indiana farmer. His family’s farm–Tom Farms, is one of the largest farms in the State of Indiana.
- Sid Miller, currently TX Ag Commissioner
- Ted McKinney, currently CEO of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture
- Mike Conaway, a Texan who is a former House Ag Chairman and the only candidate who has successfully negotiated a Farm Bill. He knows rural America and is aligned with Trump on reforming USDA’s Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). This is the program that House Ag Republicans have demanded a 20% cut.
- Jimmy Emmons, Senior Vice President–Climate Smart Programs for the Trust in Food Initiative of the Farm Journal Foundation. Emmons has decades of experience in regenerative agriculture and strongly advocates this change in farming practices.
EDITOR’s Note: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is said to have the president-elect’s ear regarding appointments. The Genetic Literacy Project says RFK, Jr.’s nutrition and farm proposals echo the disastrous science-rejectionist policies of Lysenkoism in Stalin’s 1930s Soviet Union