News

Climate change ‘resilience’ is one of Censky’s priorities

During his confirmation hearing Tuesday before the Senate Ag Committee, deputy secretary of agriculture-nominee Steve Censky said one of his priorities would be helping U.S. agriculture become more resilient to climate change.

Censky, who is the CEO of the American Soybean Association, said the USDA needs to use all of its resources to help farmers, ranchers and forest deal with a changing climate.

“We can utilize the department’s research programs to understand the trends that are happening, what pests might be emerging—to try to adapt our crops so they can survive and are better in colder, hotter, wetter and drier climates,” Censky said. “We can utilize our research, our extension, as well as even our crop insurance coverage.”

Censky said his other top priorities are expanding rural broadband availability and expanding market opportunities, both through foreign trade and promoting local and regional food markets.