“Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.”
This quote from Franklin Delano Roosevelt has always pretty accurately described my version of what we should be doing as a country to help each other.
Despite the fact that I knew dang good and well that this day would come, that knowledge couldn’t have prepared me for the sentiment and emotion I feel as I type this message. Having this opportunity to work with a team so ready to embrace the idea of serving more producers, finding existing flexibility to invest in the ability of those producers, helping them realize and capitalize on opportunity will forever be one of the most enjoyable times of my life.
Rather than go through the countless accomplishments we’ve been a part of together, I thought it may be of interest to you all how and why you came to have a recovering rancher and aspiring horseman as “Your Administrator” and have my last message to you all end with a friendly suggestion or two.
The short version is, “my dad was a rancher, and in a roundabout way, that’s how I got here.”
But that story isn’t necessarily one of choice, borne out of an abundance of opportunity. Instead, it’s one of struggle, determination, and resilience, and federal policy frozen in the ice of indifference. Dad had the misfortune of trying to feed a family as a rancher at a time when federal policy had a different perspective, and fully ascribed to the apathetic “get big, or get out” mantra of the 70s and 80s. Financial difficulty, disasters, and production challenges across the country couldn’t thaw the ice of governmental indifference and inspire better policy.
I’m incredibly proud that the version of the federal government I got to be part of has a different moral compass.
Back to how I got here–in December of 2020, I was at my kitchen table, typing some reflections on the success of the Intertribal Agriculture Council’s (IAC) first (and hopefully only) 100% virtual annual conference. I saw an email come in, that I thought must have been a mistake–it was from the Biden-Harris Transition team.
The email stated that the team had been told I might be interested in applying for a position with the incoming administration. I contemplated that for a bit. I wasn’t looking for a job, I had managed to become the Executive Director at an organization whose mission and people I’d come to know and love. I reflected back on my career, which started as a part-time farm advocate in the mid-90s with the IAC. Further back, to my childhood growing up during the Farm Financial Crisis of the 80s, seeing our family nearly lose the ranch, but not realizing it until later. I thought about the producers I’d worked with during the intervening years, and the struggles–many unnecessary–that we worked through, and in some cases couldn’t overcome.
After a short period of deliberation, I concluded that I couldn’t spend a career advocating for change, and then get a chance to lead, and not jump in—basically, it was time to “put up or shut up” as they say. If you have had a chance to meet me, you know the latter isn’t my strong suit. Suffice it to say, I turned in a letter of interest, and a resume, and thought that’d be the end of it. Lo and behold, I was selected for an interview.
A few weeks later, and after multiple interviews, I received a call from the 202-area code on a snowy January day, just after we’d finished up at Faith Livestock Auction, selling the calves to wrap up a production year. After a little conversation, I was told that I was selected to serve as the Administrator of the Farm Service Agency. After a few moments of incredulity, I said, “count me in.”
My federal government experience, up to this point, amounted to a few decades of complaining about how statutes, and regulations could maybe be read in a more pro-producer way, and advocating to change them if they couldn’t.
I started on February 22, 2021. As many of you are aware, we were deep in the COVID pandemic and working remotely. At 4:30 a.m. Central Time, from the office/tack room in my barn, I started my background check interview, and then waited to be sworn in. The national office team did an amazing job briefing the new guy and never made me feel as ignorant as I am sure I could have seemed. The overused phrase “drinking from a firehose” surely had to be coined by a political appointee coming into a federal agency. For the first several weeks, I am sure I was a drag on the organization as folks worked hard to “catch me up;” as we engaged in almost four years of program development and policy adjustment.
We may have had some “occasional faults” along the way, and got some things wrong, but got way more right. And we darn sure weren’t “frozen in the ice of indifference”.
The last four years have flown by. You’ve all likely heard me express my gratitude for our federal team, the work we’ve shared, and what we’ve accomplished together. I’m not going to list all that we’ve done together; improving the tools and programs you carry out, taking steps to provide a better workplace, and delivering over 50 programs. All while delivering tens of billions of dollars of investment in millions of producers, producing countless different crops and products, and helped navigate through one of the biggest economic catastrophes in our lifetime.
Instead, in this last visit I leave you all, staff, producers, and citizens alike, with this.
On your way to work, on your way home, over the weekend, or maybe as you drive across the county or state, or as you look across the fence-line at your neighbors, consider this. Everything you’re seeing, you contribute to every single day. The farmer in the field trying to get the crop in ahead of the weather he’s praying for, that rancher amongst her herd sorting or selecting the next crop of heifers, the specialty crop grower set up on the side of the road feeding their community, the kids at the local 4-H or FFA event showing their agriculture skills--your work directly impacts that.
Now look beyond that. Look in those small towns, or urban centers for that matter. Your work helps producers find more profitability and resilience and contributes to so many different things beyond their livelihood. It is the key to preserving, enhancing, and growing our rural communities, and bringing the values that farmers and ranchers hold dear to the rest of this great nation.
When we help producers secure more of the food dollar, they can make the conscious decision to spend it in their rural economy and reinvest in their community. Their investment can create and sustain further opportunity and grow that local economy. That producer is able to plan for a future and not feel forced to sell to developers. They are able to demonstrate to their kids that there is a value in what they are doing so those kids aspire to stay on the farm, stay in that community, and feel good about being in agriculture, instead of perpetuating the further exodus from our rural communities.
They may even be able to pay to educate their kids, so that whether those kids return to the farm or not they can say with pride…“my folks were farmers; and that’s exactly how I got here.”
I hope to see you out in the countryside as I move into what’s next. Keep up the great work, remember what this is all about, and don’t hesitate to reach out in the future.
One last time…Your Administrator,
Zach Ducheneaux
Loans and Grants
Disaster Planning and Assistance
Conservation
Ag Business
Farm Life