The Honorable Debbie Stabenow
Chairwoman
U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
328A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable John Boozman
Ranking Member
U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
328A Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairwoman Stabenow and Ranking Member Boozman:

We write to express our support for the nomination of Oregon Department of Agriculture Director Alexis Taylor to serve as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs. U.S. agricultural producers and global food security will be well served through Director Taylor’s administration of the department’s trade promotion and capacity building programs—she is uniquely qualified for this role.

Director Taylor’s understanding of agriculture and trade issues can be traced back to her childhood. She was raised on the Northeast Iowa farm that has been in her family for more than 160 years and began her long career in public service in high school when she enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves. Director Taylor served one tour in Iraq with the 389th Combat Engineer Battalion and served in the Reserves from 1998 to 2006. After receiving her bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University, she worked for various members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.

In 2014, due to her tireless work in Congress, Director Taylor was appointed by the Obama Administration as the USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, where she helped ensure agricultural stakeholder’s voices were at the table as the U.S. worked to open markets around the globe. Then, in 2016, she was appointed to her current role by Oregon Gov. Katie Brown. From this post, Director Taylor oversees the state’s efforts on food safety and consumer protection, natural resource protection and the promotion of Oregon products in the United States and around the world.

Director Taylor is a widely recognized leader on agriculture policy and has the domestic and international experience to shepherd U.S. agriculture through growing global changes of protecting food security, tackling inflation, and expanding markets for U.S. agricultural products. She is a dedicated, hardworking, results driven public servant—qualities that are recognized by the large range of stakeholders supporting her nomination.

We strongly urge the Committee to quickly advance Director Taylor’s nomination so she can begin the important work at USDA to address the issues facing our farmers and ranchers and the growing food security challenges around the world.

Read the letter submitted by CropLife America and more than 50 other signatories.