United States Secretary of Agriculture
| Secretary of Agriculture of the United States | |
|---|---|
 Seal of the Department of Agriculture | |
 Flag of the Secretary of Agriculture | |
 Incumbent Sonny Perdue since April 25, 2017 | |
United States Department of Agriculture | |
| Style | Mr. Secretary |
| Member of | Cabinet |
| Reports to | The President |
| Seat | Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Appointer | The President with Senate advice and consent |
| Term length | No fixed term |
| Constituting instrument | 7 U.S.C. § 2202 |
| Formation | February 15, 1889 |
| First holder | Norman Jay Coleman |
| Succession | Ninth[1] |
| Deputy | Deputy Secretary of Agriculture |
| Salary | Executive Schedule, level 1 |
| Website | www.usda.gov |
The United States Secretary of Agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The current Secretary of Agriculture is former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue. Perdue took office on April 25, 2017 after being confirmed by the U.S Senate 87-11. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments.
The department includes several organizations. The 297,000 mi2 (770,000 km2) of national forests and grasslands are managed by the United States Forest Service.[2] The safety of food produced and sold in the United States is ensured by the United States Food Safety and Inspection Service.[3] The Food Stamp Program works with the states to provide food to low-income people.[4] Advice for farmers and gardeners is provided by the United States Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service.[5]
Contents
1 List of Secretaries of Agriculture
2 Living former Secretaries of Agriculture
3 Line of Succession
4 References
5 External links
List of Secretaries of Agriculture
When the Department of Agriculture was established in 1862, its executive was a non-Cabinet position called the Commissioner of Agriculture. The Commissioners of Agriculture were:[6]
| No. | Portrait | Name | State of Residence | Took Office | Left Office | President(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isaac Newton | Pennsylvania | July 1, 1862 | June 19, 1867 | Abraham Lincoln | ||
Andrew Johnson | |||||||
| 2 |  | Horace Capron | December 4, 1867 | July 31, 1871 | |||
Ulysses S. Grant | |||||||
| 3 | Frederick Watts | Pennsylvania | August 1, 1871 | 1877 | |||
| 4 | William Gates LeDuc | July 1, 1877 | 1881 | Rutherford B. Hayes | |||
| 5 |  | George B. Loring | Massachusetts | July 1, 1881 | 1885 | James A. Garfield | |
Chester A. Arthur | |||||||
| 6 |  | Norman Jay Coleman | Missouri | April 3, 1885 | February 14, 1889 | Grover Cleveland | |
The position of Secretary of Agriculture was created when the department was elevated to Cabinet status in 1889. The following is a list of Secretaries of Agriculture, since the creation of the office in 1889.[7]
- Parties
Democratic (14)
Republican (18)
| No. | Portrait | Name | State of Residence | Took Office | Left Office | President(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | | Norman J. Coleman | Missouri | February 15, 1889 | March 6, 1889 | Grover Cleveland | |
2 |  | Jeremiah M. Rusk | Wisconsin | March 6, 1889 | March 6, 1893 | Benjamin Harrison | |
3 |  | J. Sterling Morton | Nebraska | March 7, 1893 | March 5, 1897 | Grover Cleveland | |
4 |  | James Wilson | Iowa | March 5, 1897 | March 3, 1913 | William McKinley | |
Theodore Roosevelt | |||||||
William Howard Taft | |||||||
Woodrow Wilson | |||||||
5 |  | David F. Houston | Missouri | March 6, 1913 | February 2, 1920 | ||
6 |  | Edwin T. Meredith | Iowa | February 2, 1920 | March 4, 1921 | ||
7 |  | Henry C. Wallace | Iowa | March 5, 1921 | October 25, 1924 | Warren G. Harding | |
Calvin Coolidge | |||||||
8 |  | Howard M. Gore | West Virginia | November 22, 1924 | March 4, 1925 | ||
9 |  | William M. Jardine | Kansas | March 5, 1925 | March 4, 1929 | ||
10 |  | Arthur M. Hyde | Missouri | March 6, 1929 | March 4, 1933 | Herbert Hoover | |
11 |  | Henry A. Wallace | Iowa | March 4, 1933 | September 4, 1940 | Franklin D. Roosevelt | |
12 |  | Claude R. Wickard | Indiana | September 5, 1940 | June 29, 1945 | ||
Harry S. Truman | |||||||
13 |  | Clinton P. Anderson | New Mexico | June 30, 1945 | May 10, 1948 | ||
14 |  | Charles F. Brannan | Colorado | June 2, 1948 | January 20, 1953 | ||
15 |  | Ezra Taft Benson | Utah | January 21, 1953 | January 20, 1961 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | |
16 |  | Orville Freeman | Minnesota | January 21, 1961 | January 20, 1969 | John F. Kennedy | |
Lyndon B. Johnson | |||||||
17 |  | Clifford M. Hardin | Nebraska | January 21, 1969 | November 17, 1971 | Richard Nixon | |
18 |  | Earl Butz | Indiana | December 2, 1971 | October 4, 1976 | ||
Gerald Ford | |||||||
19 |  | John A. Knebel | Oklahoma | November 4, 1976 | January 20, 1977 | ||
20 |  | Robert Bergland | Minnesota | January 23, 1977 | January 20, 1981 | Jimmy Carter | |
21 |  | John R. Block | Illinois | January 23, 1981 | February 14, 1986 | Ronald Reagan | |
22 |  | Richard E. Lyng | California | March 7, 1986 | January 21, 1989 | ||
23 |  | Clayton K. Yeutter | Nebraska | February 16, 1989 | March 1, 1991 | George H. W. Bush | |
24 |  | Edward R. Madigan | Illinois | March 8, 1991 | January 20, 1993 | ||
25 |  | Mike Espy | Mississippi | January 22, 1993 | December 31, 1994 | Bill Clinton | |
– | Richard Rominger Acting | California | December 31, 1994 | March 30, 1995 | |||
26 |  | Dan Glickman | Kansas | March 30, 1995 | January 20, 2001 | ||
27 |  | Ann Veneman | California | January 20, 2001 | January 20, 2005 | George W. Bush | |
28 |  | Mike Johanns | Nebraska | January 21, 2005 | September 20, 2007 | ||
– |  | Charles F. Conner Acting | Indiana | September 20, 2007 | January 28, 2008 | ||
29 |  | Ed Schafer | North Dakota | January 28, 2008 | January 20, 2009 | ||
30 |  | Tom Vilsack | Iowa | January 20, 2009 | January 13, 2017 | Barack Obama | |
– |  | Michael Scuse Acting | Delaware | January 13, 2017 | January 20, 2017 | ||
– |  | Mike Young Acting | January 20, 2017 | April 25, 2017 | Donald Trump | ||
31 |  | Sonny Perdue | Georgia | April 25, 2017 | Incumbent | ||
Living former Secretaries of Agriculture
As of October 2018, there are nine living former Secretaries of Agriculture (with all Secretaries that have served since 1993 still living), the oldest being Robert Bergland (served 1977–1981, born 1928). The most recent Secretary of Agriculture to die was Clayton Yeutter (served 1989–1991, born 1930), on March 4, 2017. The most recently serving Secretary to die was Edward Rell Madigan (1991-1993, born 1936) on December 7, 1994.
| Name | Term | Birth date (and age) |
|---|---|---|
John A. Knebel | 1976–1977 | (1936-10-04) October 4, 1936 |
Robert Bergland | 1977–1981 | (1928-07-22) July 22, 1928 |
John R. Block | 1981–1986 | (1935-02-15) February 15, 1935 |
Mike Espy | 1993–1994 | (1953-11-30) November 30, 1953 |
Dan Glickman | 1995–2001 | (1944-11-24) November 24, 1944 |
Ann Veneman | 2001–2005 | (1949-06-29) June 29, 1949 |
Mike Johanns | 2005–2007 | (1950-06-18) June 18, 1950 |
Ed Schafer | 2008–2009 | (1946-08-08) August 8, 1946 |
Tom Vilsack | 2009-2017 | (1950-12-13) December 13, 1950 |
Line of Succession
The line of succession for the Secretary of Agriculture is as follows:[8]
- Deputy Secretary of Agriculture
- Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agriculture Services
- Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Administration
- Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services
- Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics
- Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety
- Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment
- Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development
- Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs
- General Counsel of the Department of Agriculture
- Chief of Staff, Office of the Secretary
- State Executive Directors of the Farm Service Agency (in order of seniority by length of unbroken tenure) for the States of:
- California
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Regional Administrators of the Food and Nutrition Service (in order of seniority by length of unbroken tenure) for the:
- Mountain Plains Regional Office (Denver, Colorado)
- Midwest Regional Office (Chicago, Illinois)
- Western Regional Office (San Francisco, California)
- Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Agriculture
- Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Civil Rights
- Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Congressional Relations
References
^ "3 U.S. Code § 19 - Vacancy in offices of both President and Vice President; officers eligible to act". LII / Legal Information Institute..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
^ "USDA Forest Service - Caring for the land and serving people". Fs.fed.us. Retrieved September 24, 2005.
^ "Home". Fs.fed.us. Retrieved September 24, 2005.
^ "FNS Food Stamp Program Home Page". Fns.usda.gov. Retrieved September 24, 2005.
^ "Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES)". Csrees.usda.gov. Retrieved September 24, 2005.
^ Baker, Gladys L.; Rasmussen, Wayne D.; Wiser, Vivian; Porter, Jane M. (1963). "Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture". U.S. Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on 2018. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
^ "Former Secretaries". U.S. Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
^ "Amendments to Delegations of Authority, United States Department of Agriculture". Federalregister.gov. Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved October 29, 2016.
External links
Official website
Current U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Ryan Zinke as Secretary of the Interior | Order of Precedence of the United States as Secretary of the Treasury | Succeeded by Wilbur Ross as Secretary of Commerce |
Current U.S. presidential line of succession | ||
| Preceded by Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke | 9th in line | Succeeded by Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross |
United States Secretaries of Agriculture | ||
|---|---|---|
|  | |
 Agencies under the United States Department of Agriculture | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment |
|  |
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development* |
| |
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services |
| |
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety |
| |
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics |
| |
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs |
| |
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs** |
| |
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation** |
| |
| Office of the Chief Financial Officer |
| |
*Reports directly to the Secretary of Agriculture **Created from Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services | ||
