A Farewell Message from Secretary Tom Vilsack to Employees
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack steps on stage at Bonelli Regional Park.
Today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack sent the following message to all USDA employees:
I want to take this opportunity on my final day at USDA to express my profound gratitude to the people who work at USDA. Every day, nearly 90,000 people leave their families and the comfort of their home to do the people’s work in the People’s Department. What an amazing job you do each day for the country.
Your work allows America to have the most productive farmers, ranchers, and producers in the world. Your work protects our families from unsafe food and our homes from dangerous forest fires. Your work ensures that struggling families have enough to eat and our school children have more nutritious meals and snacks. Your work protects our soil and water and creates new products in labs and universities that improve our quality of life. Your work reflects the compassion of our country for those in need in other countries. Your work supports the creation of new businesses and guarantees that communities large and small are great places to live, work, and raise families. Your work inspires people all over America to buy local and support agriculture regardless of size or method of production. Your work fights against the destruction of invasive species and diseases while insuring against losses that occur when storms, droughts, and floods occur.
Your work enables all the work just outlined to happen because you are in the background making sure our operations run smoothly, regardless of where in the world they might be. Each of you and those who have come before you are part of an extraordinary group of people who proudly and honorably serve the greatest nation on earth.
I wish each of you all the best. I have been honored to be one of you. I have been honored to serve President Obama and Vice President Biden. I have been honored to serve my country. I will always love the people I worked with at USDA and the people we work for.
Sincerely,
Tom Vilsack
Tags: Conservation, Economic Growth, Environment, Farmers, Food and Nutrition, Food Safety, Forestry, International, invasive species, President Obama, Producers, Ranchers, Science, Tom Vilsack, Vice President Biden
Conservation, Economic Growth, Education, Energy, Environment, Food and Nutrition, Food Safety, Food Security, Forestry, International, Plant and Animal Health, Rural Development, Science, Technology and Broadband, Trade
Thank you so much for all your vision, outstanding leadership, and hard work! Wishing you the very best in your next endeavors!!
I wish the Secretary had included a message about improving and protecting the civil rights of employees and the people USDA serves…
Secretary Vilsack,
Thank you for your work at USDA – it has been what a Secretary of Agriculture should be and do. I have heard you speak a few times and have always been inspired by your courage, compassion, and conviction.
Mr. Secretary,
Thank you for leading USDA through eight peaceful year. I has been a pleasure serving under your leadership.
Thank you for the wonderful work you have done to improve the health and welfare of individuals across the country.
Mr. Secretary, Thank you and your team for your service to America’s children through the USDA child nutrition programs and especially for Kevin Concannon and Audrey Rowe’s leadership in improving these import public health programs. Your dedicated professional staff have made a difference in the lives of millions of kids.
Thank you for your leadership and dedication as our Secretary of Agriculture!
I am the Department’s LGBT Special Emphasis Program Manager. That is a position that did not exist until Mr. Vilsack came aboard. Because of him, unknown numbers of USDA employees feel safe knowing they can be themselves where they work. The Secretary has created a safer, more inclusive, and more diverse work environment. I work for the American people, and his commitment to me as a person has allowed me to do that job more effectively. Fairness and respect in the workplace shouldn’t have to be something we work for. It should just be. Mr. Vilsack has made that true at USDA. I will always be grateful for that, and I wish him well. Thank you, sir.
Thank you!
Thank you, Secretary Vilsack for all your hard work these past years. As a fellow Iowan, my husband & I, here in Keokuk, are very proud of you and your persistence to make our country better.
Thanks for filling an extremely important job that I expect has been a frustrating political challenge?
The opportunities your USDA has offered Rural America has been awesome, but typically, unrecognized. I hope your successor continues those initiatives.
Best to you in the next edition of your storied career.
LeRoy Deichman
Thank you Tom Vilsack for the work you have done to improve conditions for animals. I know there have been some awful threats from from sinister bullies, but you stood up to them in the name of decency and humanity.
Secretary Vilsack is a class act and did an excellent job for this country and helped agriculture grow its exports markets and steady itself in difficult times. He was there to provide help when farmers needed it and kept a steady hand helping needing Americans requiring SNAP benefits. I hope the future brings great things for this man since he’s a very able individual and capable of even becoming president one day. Thank you for your service.
Thank you for your thoughtful measured service to rural America, America’s forests and folks trying to make ends meets in tough times with the SNAP program.