Chad Smith, NAFB News Service

Several media reports late Tuesday said Joe Biden will nominate Tom Vilsack to once again be the Secretary of Agriculture, a post he held for eight years during the Obama Administration. He was also a top rural and ag policy adviser during Biden’s presidential campaign. One person familiar with Biden tells Politico that Vilsack’s previous experience running USDA was a key to the decision. Biden wants someone who can immediately tackle the hunger and farm challenges that are being made worse by COVID-19. During his term at USDA, Vilsack focused on many priorities outside the department’s primary mission of focusing on farmers. Under Vilsack, the agency took a deeper dive into other areas like rural development and nutrition programs. The USDA will play a major role in Biden’s response to climate change, which likely made the job more attractive for Vilsack to return. After years of resistance against climate change discussions, Politico says farm groups are starting to warm up to policies that give farmers incentives to capture and store carbon in their soil.