(WASHINGTON D.C.) — Ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, we sat down with Ted McKinney, CEO of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), on Agriculture of America for a conversation on a number of topics including: a new agreement honoring America’s oldest family farms, the long-awaited Senate Farm Bill text, and the uncertain road ahead for USMCA.
A New Way to Honor Legacy Farms
McKinney opened by detailing a Memorandum of Understanding signed just days earlier between NASDA and USDA, an agreement he helped bring to life alongside Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. The idea grew out of the America250 celebration and decades of state-level tradition: most states already hold annual or biennial events honoring farm families who’ve kept their operations running at the 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250-year marks, with a rare few reaching 300 years.
The MOU builds a federal layer onto those existing state celebrations. Going forward, when a state honors a farm family hitting one of those milestones, particularly the 250-year mark, the family will now also receive a certificate signed by USDA recognizing them alongside their state-level honors.
“It was a really terrific match, mating, if you will,” McKinney said of pairing the two programs.
He described the impact firsthand: four families recently celebrated on the National Mall as part of the Freedom 250 festivities, some traveling with dozens of relatives to mark the occasion. McKinney, whose own family has farmed the same ground for over 125 years, said the moment carried real weight given the hardship those farms weathered over the generations, from the Great Depression to the farm crisis of the 1980s.
“I remember my mom celebrating what it meant to burn a mortgage, meaning it’s all yours,” he said. “The celebration was genuine. It was real and was appropriate.”
Senate Farm Bill Draft Clears a Hurdle
The conversation shifted to Capitol Hill, where Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) recently released the chamber’s long-awaited Farm Bill text. McKinney was quick to credit Boozman simply for getting it out the door after a lengthy wait. He acknowledged the draft leaves out a couple of contentious provisions, most notably any resolution to California’s Proposition 12, the animal welfare law that has divided the livestock industry. McKinney noted NASDA takes no position on Prop 12, calling it a matter decided by California voters rather than something for the association to weigh in on.
He also offered useful context on where the Farm Bill process actually stands. Last year’s reconciliation package, the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” delivered roughly 70 to 80 percent of the funding typically covered by a Farm Bill, but only addressed 20 to 30 percent of the policy updates that were due. With the last full Farm Bill now eight years old, well past its intended five-year cycle, McKinney said this new version needs to close the remaining funding gap while tackling the bulk of the overdue policy work.
“We’re all hitting our knees twice a day, maybe three times a day now, praying this will get across,” he said, adding that any resolution on Prop 12 or similar sticking points would likely need to happen later, through a House-Senate conference process.
USMCA: Optimism Despite the Noise
With time running short, McKinney turned to the swirl of speculation around USMCA and whether the U.S. might not extend the agreement (which did occur on July 1st). His view was unequivocal: even by today’s standards, USMCA remains “the finest trade agreement on the planet” for U.S. agriculture, and preserving it is essential.
That said, he acknowledged real fixes are needed. Dairy access with Canada tops the list, a persistent friction point NASDA and others continue to raise with Canadian counterparts. On the Mexico side, he pointed to the timing of fruit and vegetable imports that compete directly with the U.S. harvest season as an issue still needing attention, though he credited the agreement with having largely resolved disputes over biotech crop acceptance.
McKinney said he isn’t aware of a single U.S. agriculture or farm group opposed to renewing and refining the deal, and noted that both Canada and Mexico, along with Congress, have signaled support for getting it done. He characterized talk of the U.S. walking away as likely posturing rather than a genuine threat.
“My hope, my guess is the president is posturing. He is known to do that. It’s a negotiating style,” McKinney said. “I’m more optimistic than not. I think we’ll get there.”
Watch our listen to the full interview with Ted McKinney from NASDA below:
