The nomination of Bill Northey and Greg Ibach to USDA under secretary posts has been approved by the Senate agriculture committee, with a confirmation vote coming soon from the full Senate.
Greg Ibach, director of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture, is being considered for the position of under secretary of agriculture for marketing and regulatory programs, while Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey is being nominated for under secretary of agriculture for farm production and conservation.
Senate agriculture committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, and committee Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, issued a joint statement in which the committee leaders gave Ibach and Northey their full recommendations.
“Greg Ibach and Bill Northey are qualified and respected public servants who know agriculture first-hand, and they will serve rural America well at USDA,” the senators said, adding that the two men have the support of more than 60 agriculture and conservation organizations.
The committee held a hearing on the nominees on November 5.
Both nominees are former presidents of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), and both remain involved in family farming operations.
Greg Ibach | Photo courtesy of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture
Ibach has been inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural Achievement and honored with the Service to Agriculture recognition from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln, College of Agriculture Science and Natural Resources, among other honors. His tenure as director of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture began in 2005. Prior to that, he served as assistant director for six years.
Northey served as president of the National Corn Growers Association from 1995 to 1996. He served on the Iowa U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency State Committee and as a Dickinson County Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioner. Northey is in his third term as the Iowa secretary of agriculture.
President Donald Trump announced that Ibach and Northey had been nominated for the USDA posts on September 2.
