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Vilsack is Back

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Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is the latest cabinet member to official join the Biden Administration. Vice President Kamala Harris swore Vilsack in over Zoom. Vilsack will go down in history as the 30th and 32nd agriculture secretary, having been in that role during the eight years of the Obama Administration.

Working remotely from Iowa, the agriculture secretary acknowledged there’s a lot to do with little time to do it. A top priority is the coronavirus pandemic, and USDA is reviewing how the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) is administered.

“In the meantime, we’re making payments under CFAP 2. The next round of CFAP is under review. We felt it was necessary to extend the sign-up period during the evaluation.” Vilsack said once determinations are made for the next round of CFAP, program sign-up will be extended another 30 days.

When it comes to climate change, Vilsack said USDA will be as helpful as possible to providing resources, technical assistance and verify conservation practices.

Watch the video.

Biden Issues Climate Change Executive Order

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President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order on climate change. This order outlines three areas of focus for agriculture. First, it sets a goal of conserving 30 percent of lands and oceans by 2030 while launching a process for stakeholder engagement for agriculture. It also establishes a Civilian Climate Corps Initiative and directs the agriculture secretary to get input from farmers, ranchers and other stakeholders on how to encourage the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices.