WASHINGTON – Home from college on spring break, Mike Johanns was helping his father on his family’s Iowa dairy farm when a cow started frothing at the mouth and went down.
The family vet sent the cow’s head to the National Animal Disease Lab in Ames, Iowa, and discovered, fortunately, that the cow didn’t have foot-and-mouth disease nor mad cow disease, but it did have rabies.
That’s how the current U.S. secretary of agriculture learned the value of ag research – even though he had to undergo a series of rabies vaccination shots to protect his own health.
It’s official. Former Nebraska governor Mike Johanns was sworn in as the 28th U.S. secretary of agriculture Jan. 21, Inauguration Day.
He was confirmed with little opposition in the Senate and, in fact, was approved unanimously by the Senate Ag Committee.
The senators, while supportive, indicated the new secretary will have to hit the ground running on trade issues and in preparation for the next farm bill.
Trade on the line. Johanns (pronounced JOE
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