Indiana native Ted McKinney, who serves as CEO of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), recently received the “Friend of Farmer Award” from the Indiana Corn Growers Association and the Indiana Soybean Alliance Membership and Policy Committee.
McKinney received the honor during Commodity Classic in Houston on February 29 in recognition of his hard work in improving policy for Indiana farmers and producers. Prior to serving as NASDA CEO, McKinney was the USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs from 2017-2021. McKinney also previously served as Director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA).
“Two words: special and humbling,” McKinney told Hoosier Ag Today after being presented with the award. “First, just the fact that only six [Friend of Farmer Awards] have been presented, and then seeing the list of those who received it are people I held up as icons in Indiana agriculture, so to be among them is pretty special and I’m honored.”
McKinney was in Houston just a little more than a week after he led a delegation from NASDA to Havana, Cuba—including current ISDA Director Don Lamb.
NASDA’s mission in visiting Cuba was to identify and address trade barriers for U.S. agricultural products, gain a better understanding of trade rules and regulations as well as the political and economic environment in order to strengthen the United States’ trade relationship with Cuba. While in-country, NASDA met with government officials as well as industry and private sector leaders to learn more about how the U.S. and Cuba can collaborate in the future.
“Well, on the downside, things [in Cuba] are not good in their food and ag area. They’re down 90 percent in pork and they’re down at least 40 or 50 percent in poultry, and it’s because they don’t have the hard currency to buy feed grains,” according to McKinney.
“But the upside that most people are not aware is that under then-President Raul Castro, Cuba changed their Constitution where they now allow private companies and private cooperatives, and they’re supposed to be free of interference. The question to me is, can the rise in those private companies and cooperatives come in time to remedy this tailspin on food and nutrition that they’re experiencing? As a humanitarian, I hope so. But the story is yet to be written.”
McKinney shared an interesting fact about the current U.S. ag trade with Cuba.
“Cuba is our number three market for poultry. It’s chicken quarters, it’s the legs, but we have an anchor there and a presence there. If we can build on that, then maybe there’s an opportunity and I think that it can get there.”
Click below to hear Hoosier Ag Today’s C.J. Miller’s full conversation with NASDA CEO Ted McKinney from Commodity Classic in Houston—as McKinney elaborates further on the NASDA delegation’s recent visit to Cuba, as well as whether a new Farm Bill can be introduced and passed in 2024.
