Six former U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture… John Block under Pres. Ronald Reagan, Clayton Yeutter under the first Pres. George Bush, Michael Espy and Dan Glickman for Pres. Bill Clinton, and Ann Veneman and Michael Johanns under the second Pres. George (W.) Bush… and one on video… Robert Bergland for Pres. Jimmy Carter… are on the diais today in Washington, D.C., discussing the future of agriculture as the Farm Foundation is hosting The Food and Agriculture Policy Summit.

As I post this, the conversation has just started, moderated by former Rep. Charlie Stenholm and Farm Journal’s Roger Bernard.  The first question out of the gate is what advice would these former secretaries suggest to the next Ag Secretary.

Block suggested that the next secretary should put together a team quickly to hit the ground running.  Glickman stressed the need to meet the employees at USDA and make sure to make contact with the key members of Congress.  Espy said, in light of the current economic conditions, the next secretary will need to do more with less.  Yeutter pointed out the importance that energy will play in the future.  Veneman and Johanns talked about how this country’s export policies are key to agriculture and how the next secretary will need to make sure our trade policies are beneficial to American agriculture.

I’ll have audio to post a little later as they are still talking.  Fascinating conversation and I promise to have more a little later.