U.S. Secretary of Agriculture returns to roots in Nebraska
by Andy Phipps, posted Sept. 28, 2007
On Sept. 20, 2007, at a joint appearance in the White House rose garden President George W. Bush announced his acceptance of Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns’ resignation. It is expected that Johanns will be replaced by Chuck Conners, former undersecretary of agriculture.
Johanns served as head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture since January 2005. He was previously the governor of his home state of Nebraska.
“Even as I look forward to returning to the good life in Nebraska, I look back on what has been truly an opportunity of a lifetime; for me a dream come true for a farmer's son,” Johanns said, according to a transcript of the announcement released on the White House Web site.
It is also speculated that he may attempt a run to replace retiring Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) in the 2008 election.
“He's serious about going home and possibly serving the nation in a different capacity. He would make an outstanding member of the United States Senate. There is no doubt in my mind,” said Bush in his remarks at the announcement, according to the White House’s transcript.
Johanns was instrumental in overseeing many of the administration’s agricultural policies during his tenure at the USDA including the 2007 farm bill, which is currently pending in the Senate. He was also a visible and well-respected figure at the state and local levels. This was felt among officers at the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association board meeting, held Sept. 27, 2007, in Columbia, Mo.
Merrel M. Breyer, president of the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, called Johanns “a true champion for agriculture.”
“You can’t ask any more of a man than to do the job that they’re sent there to do and [he] certainly did that,” Breyer said.
Ken Disselhorst, chairman of agricultural policy for the National Cattlemen’s Association, agreed.
“We’ve had a very positive relationship with the secretary and I’m a little disappointed to see that he has left, but we know that the things he accomplished there were very good, especially when it came to trade issues,” Disselhorst said.
This was a sentiment echoed by David Moore of Farmington, Mo., chairman of the Missouri Cattlemen’s Executive Committee.
“I felt like he was firm when he needed to be firm, especially with our trading partners, but certainly sensitive to issues all over the state and all over the country,” Moore said.
Moreover, it was the impression that the secretary left as a communicator and listener that seems to resonate the most.
“We’ve heard from him several times at the national cattlemen’s convention,” Breyer said. “He always seemed willing to listen, willing to get the cattlemen’s side of whatever issue was at hand.”
This opinion of Johanns was shared by other cattlemen’s association officers.
“I talked to him several times and he was willing to listen and get our point of view,” said David ‘Blue’ Geier, the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association’s first vice president.
“To me he was a kind of down to earth kind of man that you could sit down and talk with, [who] understood where you were coming from.”
