Mike Johanns was sworn in as the 28th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on January 21, 2005. Secretary Johanns' strong agricultural roots stretch back to his childhood. He was born in Iowa and grew up doing chores on his family's dairy farm. As the son of a dairy farmer, he developed a deep respect for the land and the people who work it. He still describes himself as "a farmer's son with an intense passion for agriculture."

Ann M. Veneman is first UNICEF Executive Director to visit Swaziland © UNICEF/HQ05-0695/Nesbitt UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman joins children at the Dvumbe Primary School, south-east of Mbabane, Swaziland.

Ezra Taft Benson (August 4, 1899 - May 30, 1994) was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1985 until his death. Earlier he served as United States Secretary of Agriculture for both of the administrations of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Daniel Robert "Dan" Glickman (born November 24, 1944) is an American politician. He served as the United States Secretary of Agriculture from 1995 until 2001, prior to which he represented the Fourth Congressional District of Kansas as a Democrat in Congress for 18 years. He is currently the president of the Motion Picture Association of America; he is the first non-Christian to hold the post. He also serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Clayton Keith Yeutter (born December 10, 1930) in Eustis, Nebraska. He served U.S. Trade Representative between 1985 and 1989, as Secretary of Agriculture from 1989 until 1991 and chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1991 and 1992.

Clifford Morris Hardin (born October 9, 1915) served as United States Secretary of Agriculture from 1969 to 1971. Hardin was born near Knightstown, Indiana, to J. Alvin Hardin and Mabel (Macy) Hardin. He earned a B.S. (1937), an M.S. (1939) and a Ph.D. (1941) from Purdue University. He taught Agricultural Economics at Michigan State University from 1944 to 1948, when he became the assistant director and then director of the Agricultural Experiment Station.

Earl Lauer Butz (born July 3, 1909) is a former United States government official who served as Secretary of Agriculture under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 - November 18, 1965) was the thirty-third Vice President of the United States (1941-45), the eleventh Secretary of Agriculture (1933-40), and the tenth Secretary of Commerce (1945-46). In the 1948 presidential election, Wallace was the nominee of the Progressive Party.

James Wilson (August 16, 1835 - August 26, 1920) was a Scotland-born United States politician who served as United States Secretary of Agriculture from 1897 - 1913. He was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, on August 16, 1835. One of 14 children, he grew up in a farming community not far from the birthplace of Robert Burns. His family emigrated to America in 1852, settling in Connecticut before moving to Iowa in 1855, establishing a farm near Traer.

Alphonso Michael Espy, usually called Mike Espy, (born November 30, 1953) was a U.S. political figure. From 1987 to 1993, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi. He served as the Secretary of Agriculture from 1993 to 1994. He was the first African American Secretary of Agriculture.

Arthur Mastick Hyde (July 12, 1877 - October 17, 1947) was an American Republican politician who served as Governor of Missouri and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Hyde was born in Princeton, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Michigan. While at the University of Michigan he joined The Delta Upsilon Fraternity. He became a lawyer and served as the Governor of Missouri from 1921 to 1925.

Henry Cantwell Wallace (1866-1924) was a United States farm leader. He served as the Secretary of Agriculture between 1921 and 1924. He was the father of Henry Agard Wallace. He was editor of Wallaces' Farmer 1916 - 1921. Son of "Uncle Henry", who was a prominent farm journalist and counselor to statesmen, Henry C. (Harry) Wallace was born in Rock Island, Illinois. He graduated from and was a professor of dairy science at Iowa State College.

David Eugene "Dave" Heineman (born May 12, 1948, in Falls City, Nebraska) is an American Republican politician who currently serves as the Governor of Nebraska. Heineman graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1970. He served two terms as the Nebraska State Treasurer from 1994 to 2001 and was appointed to the office of Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska on October 1, 2001, and was elected to his first full term in 2002.

Edwin Thomas Meredith (born December 23, 1876 in Avoca, Iowa, died June 17, 1928) was a United States Secretary of Agriculture under Woodrow Wilson. Prior to the appointment, his company, Meredith Corporation, published "Successful Farming", a magazine that had 1914 circulation of 600,000, covering nine states. In 1922 he also founded the magazine that later became "Better Homes and Gardens". He is an inductee in the Advertising Hall of Fame.

William Marion Jardine was a U.S. administrator and educator. He served as the Secretary of Agriculture from 1925 to 1929 and as the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt in 1930.

David Franklin Houston (February 17, 1866 - September 2, 1940) was an American academic, businessman and politician.

Orville Lothrop Freeman (May 9, 1918 - February 20, 2003) was an American Democratic politician who served as the 29th Governor of Minnesota from January 5, 1955 to January 2, 1961, and as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1961 to 1969 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Robert Selmer Bergland (born July 22, 1928 in Roseau, Minnesota) is a United States politician. He grew up on a farm (where he still lives) near Roseau, and studied agriculture at the University of Minnesota in a two year program. He became an official with the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service United States Department of Agriculture from 1963 to 1968.

Clinton Presba Anderson (October 23, 1895-November 11, 1975), was an American Democratic Party politician who served as a U.S. Congressman from New Mexico (1941-1945), as the United States Secretary of Agriculture (1945-1948), and as a U.S. Senator from New Mexico (1949-1973).

Howard Mason Gore (Harrison County, West Virginia, October 12, 1887 - June 20, 1947) was the United States Secretary of Agriculture during the presidential administration of Calvin Coolidge (until March 4, 1925), and later Governor of West Virginia from 1925 to 1929.

Norman Jay Coleman (May 16, 1827 - November 3, 1911) was a newspaper publisher and the first United States Secretary of Agriculture. Coleman was born in Richfield Springs, New York, and later moved to Kentucky to become an educator. He received a law degree from the University of Louisville Law School in 1849. Coleman then moved to Missouri and went into farming. In 1855 he founded the "Valley Farmer" newspaper.

John Albert Knebel was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA in 1936. He went on to graduate from West Point in 1959 and received his Master's at Creighton University in 1962. In 1965 he received his law degree from American University. He was an assistant to Congressman J. Ernest Wharton and served as general counsel to the Small Business Administration during Nixon's second term.

J. Sterling Morton (April 22, 1832 - April 27, 1902) was President Grover Cleveland's Secretary of Agriculture. He was a prominent Bourbon Democrat. Morton was born in Adams, Jefferson County, New York. He was raised in Detroit and attended the University of Michigan. After receiving his diploma in 1854, he moved with his bride to Nebraska, which was not yet organized as a territory, and staked a claim in Nebraska City.

Richard Edmund Lyng (June 29, 1918-February 1, 2003) was a U.S. administrator. A Republican, he served as the Secretary of Agriculture between 1986 and 1989. Lyng was born in San Francisco, California, and served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Fellow soldiers, impressed with Lyng's rich baritone voice, urged him to explore a music career after the war, which he did, scoring a series of regional hits with a do-wop quartet called the Ding-a-Lyngs.

Edward Rell Madigan (January 13, 1936-December 7, 1994) was a businessman and a Republican party politician from Lincoln, Illinois. He served almost twenty years in the United States House of Representatives and was U.S. Secretary of Agriculture for George H. W. Bush. Madigan was born in Lincoln and attended Lincoln [Junior] College before starting his own taxicab business. He entered public service as a member of the Lincoln Board of Zoning Appeals from 1965 to 1969.

Jeremiah McLain Rusk (June 17, 1830 - November 21, 1893) was the 15th Governor of the U.S. state of Wisconsin from 1882 to 1889. Rusk was born in Malta, Ohio. He was a member of the Republican Party. He began as a planter, then turned to innkeeping and finally to banking before the Civil War. During the war, he received a brevet appointment as a general and saw action at Antietam with the 26th Wisconsin Volunteers, which was almost wiped out.

Rick Sheehy is an American Republican politician and the current Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska. He was appointed by Governor Dave Heineman on January 24, 2005, after Heineman became Governor upon Mike Johanns' appointment as United States Secretary of Agriculture in President George W. Bush's cabinet. Sheehy is a native of Hastings, Nebraska. He graduated from St. Cecilia High School and attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Central Community College.

John Rusling Block (born February 15, 1935 in Galesburg, Illinois) was an American politician. He came from a strongly rural background where the home had no electricity. He graduated from West Point in 1957 and served in 101st Airborne. After that he ran a successful agribusiness. He is a staunch Republican whose agriculture successes formed the basis for his positions with the governor.

David Roy Butz (born June 23, 1950 in Lafayette, Alabama) is a former American Football defensive lineman for the National Football League St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Redskins in a sixteen year career from 1973 to 1988. Butz played college football at Purdue University. Butz, a 6' 7" 300 pound defensive lineman was selected to the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team and was a one time Pro Bowler in 1983 in a season in which he got eleven sacks, a career best.