Tom Vilsack

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Senate Agriculture Committee member Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., center, joined by fellow committee members, gestures during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014, after congressional approval of a sweeping five-year farm bill that provides food for the needy and subsidies for farmers. From left are, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., Heitkamp, the committee's ranking member, Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss. and committee chair Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Up next on farm bill: Putting it into action in ND

By HENRY C. JACKSON - Associated Press

** FILE ** Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. (Associated Press)

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack: ‘Hubs’ to advise farmers on climate change

By Dave Boyer - The Washington Times

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announces new climate zones to help farmers deal with climate change, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014, during the daily news briefing at the White House in Washington. The government will assess the climate risk in each of these zones, such as forest fires, drought, floods and then help farmers deal with it. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

USDA chief: Climate change already hurting farmers

By JOSH LEDERMAN - Associated Press

Feds announce $20M for California farmers

By SCOTT SMITH - Associated Press

USDA expanding poverty-reduction initiative

By TRAVIS LOLLER - Associated Press

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad delivers his Condition of the State address before a joint session of the Iowa Legislature, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, at the Statehouse in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Iowa governor restores more felons’ voting rights

By RYAN J. FOLEY - Associated Press

In this July 26, 2013, photo, Des Moines Water Works lab technician Bill Blubaugh takes a water sample from the Raccoon River in Des Moines. The water works has faced high nitrate levels for many years in the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers, which supply drinking water to 500,000 people. The mandate to increase ethanol production, with millions of acres of new row crops being planted, is helping to increase nitrate pollution in municipal water supplies like Des Moines. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Ethanol era: The secret, dirty cost of Obama’s green power push

By Dina Cappiello and Matt Apuzzo - Associated Press

** FILE ** In this June 7, 2012, file photo, Steve Cahillane, president of Coca-Cola Americas, makes a point during an interview with The Associated Press while attending the Clinton Global Initiative America gathering in Chicago. Cahillane is scheduled to be at at the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie in Wilmington, Ill., on Friday, Sept. 13, 2013, to sign a five-year partnership with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to restore watersheds that have been damaged or altered by development, wildfires and agriculture. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)

Coca-Cola, USDA partner on environment to protect federal watersheds

By Cheryl K. Chumley - The Washington Times

** FILE ** Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. (Associated Press)

Coburn slams Agriculture for wasteful spending

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times

Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican (Associated Press)

Sen. Tom Coburn tells feds to quit propping up wineries, expensive vacation homes

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times

“Why is it that we don’t have a farm bill? It isn’t just the differences of policy. It’s the fact that rural America with a shrinking population is becoming less and less relevant to the politics of this country, and we had better recognize that and we better begin to reverse it.” - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (Associated Press)

Agriculture secretary: Farmers losing clout

By Mary Clare Jalonick - Associated Press

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (Associated Press)

USDA to allow more meat, grains in school lunches

By Mary Clare Jalonick - Associated Press

FILE - In this July 18, 2012, file photo, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack talks about the drought during a press briefing at the White House in Washington. Vilsack has some harsh words for rural America: It's "becoming less and less relevant," he says. A month after an election that Democrats won even as rural parts of the country voted overwhelmingly Republican, the former Democratic governor of Iowa told farm belt leaders this past week that he's frustrated with their internecine squabbles and says they need to be more strategic in picking their political fights. "It's time for us to have an adult conversation with folks in rural America," Vilsack said in a speech at a forum sponsored by the Farm Journal. "It's time for a different thought process here, in my view." He said rural America's biggest assets — the food supply, recreational areas and energy, for example — can be overlooked by people elsewhere as the U.S. population shifts more to cities, their suburbs and exurbs. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

USDA chief: Rural America becoming ‘less relevant’

By Mary Clair Jalonick - Associated Press

USDA to allow more meat, grains in school lunches

By MARY CLARE JALONICK - Associated Press

This photo from Aug. 1, 2012, shows a drought damaged ear of corn in a Westfield, Ind., cornfield. U.S. corn growers could have their worst crop in a generation as the harshest drought in decades takes its toll, the government reported Aug. 10, 2012, as it forecast the lowest average yield in 17 years. (Associated Press)

USDA cuts corn outlook as drought takes toll

By Jim Suhr - Associated Press

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (Associated Press)

Agriculture secretary presses House on farm bill

By Jim Abrams - Associated Press

Virginia campaign for healthy eating gets Hollywood boost

By Paige Winfield Cunningham - The Washington Times

Food pyramid out, ‘My Plate’ in for healthy eating

By MARY CLARE JALONICK - Associated Press

Gov’t advising Americans to cut down on salt

By MARY CLARE JALONICK - Associated Press

Hold the salt: Guidelines warn against high intake of sodium

By Mary Clare Jalonick - Associated Press