US president-elect Donald Trump has announced his pick to run the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) during his next administration.
Trump announced over the weekend that Brooke Rollins, a long time supporter of his, will be his nomination to the role of the US Secretary of Agriculture.
Rollins, a native of Texas, is from a farming background, and attended an agricultural university in her home state, graduating with a degree in agricultural development in 1994.
She was also a member of Future Farmers of America, a farming and rural youth organisation, and her family is involved in livestock showing.
However, she subsequently studied law and become an attorney by profession.
In her recent career, she has been involved in policy development for the Republican Party, and has been involved in several think-thanks that work in promoting the policies and political agenda of Trump.
She has been involved with Trump since early in his first term as president from 2017 to 2021.
Before taking office, Rollins, along with all of Trump’s nominees for cabinet positions, will have to be confirmed by the US Senate, in which Trump’s Republican Party has a majority.
Commenting on his pick for agriculture secretary, Trump said: “Brooke’s commitment to support the American farmer, and the restoration of agriculture-dependent American small towns, is second to none.
“From her upbringing in the small and agriculture-centered town of Glen Rose, Texas, to her years of leadership involvement with Future Farmers of America…to her generational family farming background…Brooke has a practitioner’s experience.
“As our next Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke will spearhead the effort to protect American farmers, who are truly the backbone of our country,” Trump said.
Rollins will be tasked with overseeing the USDA, which has an annual budget of around $215 million. Around 70% of this goes toward human nutrition programmes.
The USDA also oversees federal-owned forestry and grassland, with the department responsible for some 25% of all federal-owned land.
The department is divided into eight mission areas, each of which has at least one agency dedicated to that area.
Those eight mission areas are:
- Farm production and conservation;
- Food, nutrition, and consumers;
- Food safety;
- Marketing and regulatory programmes;
- Natural resources and the environment;
- Research, education and economics;
- Rural development;
- Trade and foreign agriculture affairs.
The nomination of an agriculture secretary completes the line-up of nominees for Trump’s 15-member cabinet.
These include Robert F. Kennedy Jr, nephew of President John F. Kennedy, as secretary for health. Kennedy has taken a number of strong and often controversial stances on health issues, including opposition to processed foods.
