Department of Agriculture - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Department of Agriculture Index / Organizations Transcripts Lisa Jackson ...much with Tom Vilsack's authority at Department of Agriculture . But I traveled all over. We did a... ...or the folks who worked on ag policy at Department of Agriculture weren't careful, what could b... Joe Del Bosque ...with the Obama administration, with the Department of Agriculture [USDA] or anybody in th... ...with the Department of Agriculture [ USDA ] or anybody in the administration... ...continue. A couple of things that the USDA did to try and address this question o... ...that regard, as I understand it, the USDA —one of the things they did in 2014 wa... ...these initiatives by the part of the USDA ? I think I may have heard a littl... ...in touch with the Obama administration, USDA , or maybe even these particula... Show more... Arun Majumdar ...We also had partnership with the USDA [US Department of Agriculture], becaus... ...also had partnership with the USDA [US Department of Agriculture ], because there was some of th... ...that required partnership with the USDA . So that's how we went around buildin... Christy Goldfuss ...was really an entire push across USDA [US Department of Agriculture] and th... ...really an entire push across USDA [US Department of Agriculture ] and the Department of the Interior t... ...disputes between the agencies. So, USDA and EPA have been having dispute ove... ...of the Interior, and my work at USDA , than I did it in EPA. The agenda wa... ...together. There was a real role for USDA and the Forest Service in Bears Ear... Nancy Sutley ...was the same with Secretary Vilsack at USDA [US Department of Agriculture], in par... ...same with Secretary Vilsack at USDA [US Department of Agriculture ], in part because he had the Fores... Heather Zichal ...how do we leverage investments from USDA [United States Department o... ...investments from USDA [United States Department of Agriculture ], you know, for the Ag Department an... Sally Jewell ...with [Department of] Agriculture [ USDA ] on things like rural broadband an... ...It was economic development, which was USDA and Interior. Anyway, all thes... ...Service lands, which is of course in USDA , and BLM lands and of course touche... ...multiple trips made by my team, by USDA , and I would say that I needed to b... Doug O'Brien ...the administration as part of the US Department of Agriculture [USDA]. He was chief of staff to Deput... ...of the US Department of Agriculture [ USDA ]. He was chief of staff to Deput... ...in 2013. In 2015, he left the USDA to serve as senior policy advisor fo... ...we can kind of chart your path into the USDA . And I actually wanted to start wit... ...small family farmers against the USDA , actually, where of course I ended u... ...policy happen before you joined the USDA ? It did. So, I went to law schoo... ...I did that for about ten years both at USDA , the US Department of Agriculture. ... ...about ten years both at USDA, the US Department of Agriculture . I was a civil servant in the De... ...bio-based kind of stuff at the state Department of Agriculture , and then kind of doing some polic... ...as we talk about your work at the USDA . But let's go back to that moment i... ...machine, and particularly, I think, the USDA . Tom Vilsack is a highly discipline... ...work or participate in that work at the USDA ? A lot. In fact—and I can't believ... ...or women farmers—they applied for USDA farm loans just like White guys, an... ...these different sort of switches that USDA employees would switch off for a Blac... ...the Department of Justice working with USDA general counsel, working directly wit... ...there ways that you were working in the USDA to ensure more equity going forward? ... ...organized, deliberate priority to have USDA staff reach out to those communitie... ...had been underserved over years. And USDA has about twenty-one hundred office... ...we have more presence. That is, USDA had more presence in rural places tha... ...comprehensive one that was organized at USDA . Did you see the same kind o... ...had access. So it wasn't like USDA was saying you can't apply for thi... ...time for Doug McKalip to come back to USDA , so they were looking for somebody t... ...Pretty much the whole time that I was USDA , if it had to do with rural communit... ...development, I was the guy that USDA sent over to be around the table. Whe... ...and they needed a rural guy, who's the USDA guy? Well, I was always that guy. I wa... ...have to say I had more impact over at USDA , probably, which might sound a littl... ...way, of course, it doesn't work. But USDA moved from last place for larg... ...undersecretary, I would go across— USDA has the administrative building, th... ...food strategy, primarily within the USDA . It reached to other agencies too. An... ...more so it was a campaign within the USDA to identify authorities and resource... ...a cohort of professionals within the USDA , nonpolitical professionals, who wer... ...a conversation and debate around, was USDA helping lead the charge and push ou... Show more... Denise O'Brien ...was elected—I walked the halls of the USDA [United States Department o... ...the halls of the USDA [United States Department of Agriculture ] thinking that I would be able to—th... ...in the higher-ups of the staff of the USDA said, “Well, go look at JobsUSA,” an... ...Farmer's Face, and the gardens at the USDA , and the fact that Michelle Obam... ...find many open doors [laughs] in the USDA , I went online and looked at that. ... Stephanie Cutter ...figure out what your piece of this is. USDA [United States Department o... ...piece of this is. USDA [United States Department of Agriculture ] played a big role, because they d... Load more Transcripts Related Topics go to the Republican Opposition Republican Opposition go to the LGBTQ Policy LGBTQ Policy go to the Human Rights Human Rights go to the Obama in the Senate Obama in the Senate go to the Financial Crisis and the Economy Financial Crisis and the Economy