Bonnie to be nominated to key USDA under secretary position

Staff and wire report

A press release from The White House April 16 announced that President Joe Biden intends to nominate Robert Bonnie for U.S. Department of Agriculture under secretary for farm production and conservation.

“I am grateful to President Biden for announcing his intent to nominate Robert Bonnie (for the position),” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said April 16 in a statement released by USDA. “ Robert currently serves as the deputy chief of staff and senior climate advisor at USDA. He led the USDA Transition Team for the president-elect and vice president-elect. And he served in the Obama-Biden Administration as under secretary for natural resources and environment as well as my senior advisor for the environment and climate.

“He is one of the nation’s foremost authorities and leaders on working lands approaches to conservation and incentive-based climate and conservation practices for farmers, ranchers, foresters and landowners,” Vilsack continued. “Under Robert’s steady hand, America’s farmers, ranchers, producers and landowners will see renewed focus on building and maintaining markets at home and abroad and preparing our food and agricultural community to lead the world in climate-smart agricultural practices.

“Robert will be committed to working with U.S. farmers and landowners to help feed Americans and the world and make climate smart practices work for them in a market-oriented way—a way that creates new streams of income, a cleaner energy future and a biobased manufacturing revolution,” he added.

Prior to joining USDA, Bonnie was at Duke University, first as a Rubenstein fellow and later as an executive in residence at the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions working on conservation and environmental issues in rural America, the White House release said.

In 2020, Bonnie also worked with the Bipartisan Policy Center on its Farm and Forest Carbon Solutions Initiative.

Prior to joining Duke, in his role as under secretary for natural resources and environment during the second term of the Obama Administration, Bonnie he oversaw the U.S. Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service on a variety of natural resource issues, including management of the 193 million-acre National Forest and Grassland System, implementation of Farm Bill conservation programs on America’s farms, ranches and forests, and climate change.

During Obama’s first term, Bonnie served as senior advisor to Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack for environment and climate change.

Prior to joining USDA, Bonnie was vice president for land conservation for the Environmental Defense Fund ,where he focused on developing incentives to reward farmers, ranchers and forest owners for stewardship activities on private lands. At EDF, Bonnie helped develop the Safe Harbor program and other incentive-based approaches to endangered species conservation.

Bonnie has master’s degrees in forestry and environmental management from Duke University. He grew up on a farm in Kentucky and now lives in Virginia.