Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Applauds USDA Appointments Fordyce, Hoskins
From Agri-Pulse.com
Richard Fordyce, a Missouri farmer who ran USDA’s Farm Service Agency during the first Trump administration, has been picked to be the department’s undersecretary for farm production and conservation. A second veteran of Trump’s first term at USDA, Dudley Hoskins, was named undersecretary for regulatory and marketing programs.
If confirmed by the Senate, Fordyce would oversee FSA as well as the Risk Management Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service. Robert Bonnie held the post during the Biden administration.
Fordyce “will work closely with our wonderful Secretary of Agriculture Nominee, Brooke Rollins, to ensure that our incredible American Farmers and Ranchers have the support they need to feed our Great Nation, and the World,” President-elect Donald Trump said in a statement.
Hoskins, who joined the Senate Agriculture Committee staff in 2021 after leaving USDA, would oversee the Agricultural Marketing Service and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. While at USDA, Hoskins was chief of staff for marketing and regulatory programs from 2017-2019 and then a senior adviser in the department from 2019 to 2021.
Before joining USDA, Hoskins had been public policy counsel for the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.
Fordyce, who was Missouri agriculture director before getting the FSA post, produces corn, soybeans and cattle. After leaving USDA in 2021 he joined the public relations firm Osborn Barr Paramore, where he is agriculture business growth director.
While at FSA, Fordyce oversaw distribution of aid under the Market Facilitation Program, which was created using USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation spending authority to compensate growers for the impact of Donald Trump’s trade war with China. Later, FSA would play a major role in distributing assistance to farmers during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Fordyce describes himself as a “fourth-generation Missouri soybean, corn, and cattle farmer who sometimes works in town.”
During the Trump administration, he wrote that he “implemented strategies and programs to assist America’s farmers and ranchers during historically challenging times.”
“Nowadays, when I’m not on the tractor, I use that valuable experience to help build strong partnerships between industries, universities, government agencies, and our nation’s agricultural community. It’s a dream job for this farmer,” he wrote.