December 21, 2011 10:13AM 

# The USDA: Your One-Stop Shop 

By [Sallie James](https://www.cato.org/people/sallie-james) 

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[*Politico* yesterday](http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=EBDC2364-361F-4AC7-BEF9-2952F75594DB) reported that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is upset. According to him, the USDA just don’t get no respect:

> Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wants to spread the message to anyone who’ll listen: The U.S. Department of Agriculture isn’t just about farming anymore.
> 
> 
> “This department is not appreciated,” the former Iowa governor told POLITICO in a recent interview. “**We are engaged in virtually every issue and always can provide some support and some meaningful solution to a problem that is vexing folks**.”
> 
> 
> To prove the point, **he challenges anyone to name an issue that doesn’t touch the department’s portfolio**, from bolstering national security by helping wean Afghan farmers from growing opium — a cash crop that funds Islamic insurgents fighting U.S. troops — to providing USDA-backed home loans as a way to repopulate the sparse countryside. \[emphasis added, with disgust\]

Not bad for an agency that shouldn’t even exist.

##### Related Tags 

[Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy), [Trade Policy](https://www.cato.org/trade-policy), [Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies](https://www.cato.org/herbert-stiefel-center-trade-policy-studies), [Department of Agriculture](https://www.cato.org/department-agriculture) 

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