Vilsack Presents Priorities for USDA in Exit Memo

Part of ‘exit memo’ process by outgoing Obama Cabinet

A series of priorities USDA should focus on after outgoing USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack leaves office are detailed in an exit memo, released January 5. Link to memo.

Vilsack, whose last day is reportedly January 13, said the next administration should modify safety net programs, such as the Dairy Margin Protection Program, to ensure that they have their intended effect.

Vilsack also called on Congress to lift restrictions on the USDA’s use of its Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to offer emergency financial assistance to farmers.

Vilsack also called on Congress to pass a five-year bill to reauthorize funding and set policy for the USDA’s child nutrition programs. The 114th Congress failed to pass a bill renewing funding for the programs before adjourning. “It would be unwise to roll back standards, saddle parents and school administrators with more paperwork or weaken assistance for our most vulnerable children,” Vilsack said in the memo.

Regarding completing implementation of the GMO labeling law, Vilsack noted that on July 29, 2016, President Obama signed a bill into law requiring the labeling of food containing genetically modified ingredients. “This is a landmark law for disclosure,” he wrote. Currently, USDA has established a working group and GMO Disclosure Team to manage implementation of the law. A study will seek to identify potential technological challenges that may impact whether consumers would have access to the bioengineering disclosure through electronic or digital disclosure methods. Vilsack said, “USDA must ensure that the rulemaking process closely adheres to the authority provided in statute.”

Comments: Part of the document is a self-written report card so consider that when reading the “memo.” As noted, Vilsack will likely depart his long-standing post on January 13 to go work at another job in the dairy sector – just as we predicted he would many months ago. The general farm media is finally catching up to Vilsack’s next job. Took them a while....

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