US secretary of agriculture, Tom Vilsack, has described his time as head of the USDA as a “privilege and an honour”. First appointed in December 2008 by President Barak Obama, Vilsack said his eight years as US agriculture secretary had been a tremendous experience.

“We’ve dealt with some incredible emergencies and threats to our agriculture industry such as avian influenza (bird flu) and the PEDV virus, which were major threats to our pork and poultry sectors,” said Vilsack.

With just seven weeks left in office until he is replaced by a successor from the incoming Trump administration, Vilsack said one of his greatest achievements in office was raising the awareness of rural America to highlight the importance of what farmers and ranchers do for the rest of the country.

Speaking on the AgriTalk radio show, Vilsack also said it was incredibly important that the agriculture industry had a strong farming press and media. “The farming press provides information to folks across the country about what’s going at the department,” he said.

As of yet, President-elect Donald Trump has not announced a replacement for Vilsack as US agriculture secretary. In relation to the recent election of Donald Trump as US president, Vilsack said the Democratic Party had lost touch with rural America. He said he had been making comments for the last eight years that the party needed to change its message to rural America and not just chase urban voters.