Indiana native Ted McKinney has been serving as an ag leader for many years. During President Trump’s first term, McKinney served as USDA’s Undersecretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs.
Because of his leadership, he’s been recognized this week for his role in boosting international ag trade.
“For me, this [award] came out of the blue,” said McKinney, who received the Michael J. Mansfield Award from the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) during their Strategic Planning Conference this week in Indianapolis.
USMEF established this award in recognition of Mansfield, who served as U.S. Senate majority leader, as well as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan under both Presidents Carter and Reagan. Mansfield’s five decades of government service advanced U.S. trade relations throughout the world—including Japan, which has become one of the top destinations for many U.S. agricultural products.
McKinney, who is originally from Tipton County and is an alumnus of Purdue University, now serves as CEO of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA).
“I’ve been a lucky guy. My roles with Dow Agrosciences, and then Elanco Animal Health, and then on to the Director of Ag under then-Governor Pence—I’ve just been a lucky cat,” said McKinney. “All of those roles have involved, at some level, international trade. Of course, the most prominent and most significant role was when I did my USDA service—and we must keep that up.”
He says that much of that support must continue to go to the various ag checkoff programs—including USMEF.
“Most of it is farmer contributions, not taxpayer dollars,” said McKinney. “We know the return on investment is $24 or $25 for every dollar of taxpayer contributions, and the benefits have been enormous as we’ve grown within a market, and as we’ve expanded other markets. So, I think it’s proper that USMEF, as the checkoff organization for beef, pork, and poultry, are having these awards and having these meetings to sustain this growth, and we’ve got to expand even more.”
Speaking of ag trade, what does McKinney think of the recent trade agreement between the U.S. and China?
“I’ll take it, if it gets us back to being ‘friends’, as much as we can, given the geopolitical differences—and they’re mighty—and they’re going to continue. I think they’ll grow, but if we can demonstrate that we’ve got a product that they need, and that we then can be buying from them, that’s what trade is all about. It’s a mutual benefit, and we have got to find a way to get back at that,” said McKinney.
CLICK BELOW for Hoosier Ag Today’s radio news report.
