President Donald Trump on Wednesday sent to the Senate the nomination of Ted McKinney to be Agriculture Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs. The position is a new one created by Congress in 2014 and, if confirmed, McKinney would be the first person to hold the new position.
McKinney grew up on a family grain and livestock farm in Tipton, Indiana. He was sworn in as director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture in January 2014 by then Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Prior to taking the position of director at the state department of agriculture, McKinney was with the Agricultural Chemicals business of Elanco Products Company, later moving to the parent company Lilly. In 1990, he joined Dow AgroSciences where he spent nearly 20 years in a variety of corporate affairs responsibilities. In 2009, he returned to Elanco in global corporate affairs. He received a B.S. degress in Agricultural Economis in 1981 at Purdue University.
“For our new under secretary position emphasizing international trade, I have always said that I want someone who wakes up every morning asking how we can sell more American agricultural products in foreign markets. Ted McKinney is that person. His longstanding background in agriculture, economic development, and global issues will make him an unapologetic advocate for U.S. products in the world marketplace,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue when the nomination of McKinney was first announced.
