
Seal of the Department of Agriculture
The 'United States Secretary of Agriculture' is the head of the
United States Department of Agriculture concerned with ''land and food'' as well as ''agriculture and rural development''. The Secretary is a member of the
President's Cabinet and ninth in line to
succeed the President should the situation call for it. This has not yet occurred, though.
The department includes several organizations. The 190 million acres (770,000 km²) of national forests and grasslands are managed by the
United States Forest Service. The safety of food produced that are produced in the United States and sold here is ensured by the
United States Food Safety and Inspection Service. The
Food Stamp Program works with the states to provide food to low-income people. Advice for farmers and gardeners is provided by the
United States Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service.
Secretaries of Agriculture
| No. | Secretary of Agriculture | State of Residence | Term of Office | President(s) served under |
|---|
| 1 | Norman Jay Coleman | Missouri | February 15, 1889 - March 6, 1889 | Grover Cleveland |
| 2 | Jeremiah Rusk | Wisconsin | March 6, 1889 - March 6, 1893 | Benjamin Harrison |
| 3 | Julius Morton | Nebraska | March 7, 1893 - March 5, 1897 | Grover Cleveland |
| 4 | James Wilson | Iowa | March 6, 1897 - March 5, 1913 | William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft |
| 5 | David F. Houston | Missouri | March 6, 1913 - February 2, 1920 | Woodrow Wilson |
| 6 | Edwin Meredith | Iowa | February 2, 1920 - March 4, 1921 |
| 7 | Henry Cantwell Wallace | Iowa | March 5, 1921 - October 25, 1924 | Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge |
| 8 | Howard Gore | West Virginia | November 22, 1924 - March 4, 1925 | Calvin Coolidge |
| 9 | William Marion Jardine | Kansas | March 5, 1925 - March 4, 1929 |
| 10 | Arthur Hyde | Missouri | March 6, 1929 - March 4, 1933 | Herbert Hoover |
| 11 | Henry A. Wallace | Iowa | March 4, 1933 - September 4, 1940 | Franklin Roosevelt |
| 12 | Claude Wickard | Indiana | September 5, 1940 - June 29, 1945 | Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman |
| 13 | Clinton Anderson | New Mexico | June 30, 1945 - May 10, 1948 | Harry Truman |
| 14 | Charles Brannan | Colorado | June 2, 1948 - January 20, 1953 |
| 15 | Ezra Taft Benson | Idaho | January 21, 1953 - January 20, 1961 | Dwight Eisenhower |
| 16 | Orville Freeman | Minnesota | January 21, 1961 - January 20, 1969 | John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson |
| 17 | Clifford Hardin | Nebraska | January 21, 1969 - November 17, 1971 | Richard Nixon |
| 18 | Earl Butz | Indiana | December 2, 1971 - October 4, 1976 | Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford |
| 19 | John Knebel | | November 4, 1976 - January 20, 1977 | Gerald Ford |
| 20 | Robert Bergland | Minnesota | January 23, 1977 - January 20, 1981 | Jimmy Carter |
| 21 | John Block | Illinois | January 23, 1981 - February 14, 1986 | Ronald Reagan |
| 22 | Richard Lyng | | March 7, 1986 - January 21, 1989 |
| 23 | Clayton Yeutter | Nebraska | February 16, 1989 - March 1, 1991 | George H. W. Bush |
| 24 | Edward Madigan | Illinois | March 8, 1991 - January 20, 1993 |
| 25 | Michael Espy | Mississippi | January 22, 1993 - December 31, 1994 | Bill Clinton |
| 26 | Daniel Glickman | Kansas | March 30, 1995 - January 19, 2001 |
| 27 | Ann Veneman | California | January 20, 2001 - January 20, 2005 | George W. Bush |
| 28 | Michael O. Johanns | Nebraska | January 21, 2005 - present |
References
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Secretary's Page