Tom Vilsack, former Governor of Iowa and Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, will be returning to his Iowan roots when he speaks on campus Tuesday night.

Vilsack’s lecture, “Trade Relations and U.S Agriculture,” will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. He will be discussing how recent changes in foreign policy and trade relations impact the United States agriculture market.

Vilsack last spoke at Iowa State in November when he gave a lecture on the relationship between climate change and agriculture.

From 1999 to 2007, Vilsack served as the governor of Iowa. Then in 2009, he served as the Secretary of Agriculture under the Obama administration. Vilsack eventually became the longest serving original member of Obama’s cabinet.

After serving eight years in the position he retired in January 2017. From there, Vilsack went on to his current position as the president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC).

The USDEC is a “non-profit, independent membership organization that represents the global trade interests of U.S dairy producers, proprietary processors and cooperatives, ingredient suppliers and export traders,” according to their website.

As president and CEO, Vilsack “provides strategic leadership and oversight of USDEC’s global promotional and research activities, regulatory affairs and trade policy initiatives. This includes working with industry leaders to develop a long term vision for building sales and consumer trust in U.S. dairy,” according to the USDEC’s website.

In an interview with the Iowa State Daily, Vilsack said that one of the reasons he was drawn to the dairy industry is it’s inclusive nature.

“The U.S. dairy industry is one in which the smallest producer who might have as few as 20, or 30 or 40 cows, can still be at the table making decisions for the industry with the largest producer,” Vilsack said.

Vilsack has been awarded by multiple organizations including the Norman Borlaug Medallion from the World Food Prize Foundation, the Congressional Hunger Center Leadership Award and The Gene White Lifetime Achievement Award from the Global Child Nutrition Foundation.

The upcoming lecture is part of the Technology, Globalization and Culture Series and is cosponsored by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Engineering, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Committee on Lectures.