I think people have to remember where we were in 2009. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month. We had an unemployment rate in double digits. We had poverty rates soaring. We had kids who were food insecure. Today in 2016, we have a lot less unemployment, a lot less poverty, and a lot fewer kids who are food insecure.

Tom Vilsack

One out of every 12 jobs in the economy is connected in some way, shape or form to what happens on the farm.

Tom Vilsack

shapes jobs way

The rise of childhood obesity has placed the health of an entire generation at risk.

Tom Vilsack

obesity-epidemic childhood risk

In the past 40 years, the United States lost more than a million farmers and ranchers. Many of our farmers are aging. Today, only nine percent of family farm income comes from farming, and more and more of our farmers are looking elsewhere for their primary source of income.

Tom Vilsack

united-states past years

I think a lot of people don't understand the makeup of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program population, of the food stamp population, 80 percent senior citizens, people with disabilities, children, and those who are actually in the work force working. The folks who are not - who are able-bodied, who are adults, who don't have dependents, there's a desire to make sure that they get to work and that they aren't basically gaming the system. But the reality is, they have a responsibility to either be involved in work or education, or they're limited in terms of their benefits.

Tom Vilsack

senior responsibility children

People working together in a strong community with a shared goal and a common purpose can make the impossible possible.

Tom Vilsack

common-purpose strong teamwork

Somewhere between 50 to 60 percent of the food you eat has been touched by immigrant hands, and it is fair to say some of them are not here as they should be here. But if you didn't have these folks, you would be spending a lot more - three, four or five times more - for food, or we would have to import food and have all the food security risks.

Tom Vilsack

risk three hands

People don't understand rural America. Sixteen percent of our population is rural, but 40 percent of our military is rural. I don't believe that's because of a lack of opportunity in rural America. I believe that's because if you grow up in rural America, you know you can't just keep taking from the land. You've got to give something back.

Tom Vilsack

growing-up military believe

I think the Democrats have - we really have failed to be in rural America, in the sense of having our leaders spending time talking to folks in rural America. The president Barack Obama has been there, but other than the president and vice president, we have had not a whole lot of conversation in rural America.

Tom Vilsack

leader president thinking

This is an exciting time for farmers and ranchers of all types and sizes as agriculture is a bright spot in the American economy. In 2011, agricultural exports hit a record high and producers saw their best incomes in nearly 40 years.

Tom Vilsack

agriculture income years

If we truly want an innovative and creative renewable fuel industry, then it needs to be challenged. And if we create a set of protections that allow it to not be as creative and innovative as possible, then we aren't doing a service to the industry or to the people of this country.

Tom Vilsack

creative country people

Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy.

Tom Vilsack

small-business economy

Hillary Clinton was in rural America during the Iowa caucuses, but I think the nature of a campaign makes it more difficult once you become the candidate. There's a messaging opportunity here throughout, not just in the election season, but before the election, the opportunity to underscore what government is doing in a positive way in partnership with rural folks. I think it's a messaging issue. It's being there physically, talking to folks, listening to people, respecting and admiring what they do, and then making sure that they understand precisely what the partnership is.

Tom Vilsack

opportunity people thinking

If we can get people to focus on fruits and vegetables and more healthy foods, we'll be better in terms of our healthcare situation.

Tom Vilsack

focus vegetables people

But It doesn't make sense for us to have a continued reliance on a supply of oil where whenever there is unrest in another part of the world, gasoline prices jump up. We need a renewable fuel industry that's more than corn-based, of course, and there are a whole series of great opportunities here.

Tom Vilsack

gasoline-prices oil opportunity

My friends, history, history calls us to this time and to this place. A solemn choice rests with us - where do we go from here? Do we move slowly and incrementally? Or do we seize the challenge of our time and tackle the great issues of our day.

Tom Vilsack

friends issues moving

Very few people know that my department is responsible for 1.2 million home loans since I have been secretary. That's 1.2 million families that are living in homes in rural America that would never have homeownership, but for the United States Department of Agriculture's programs. We have to do more of educating people about the partnership that does exist between rural America and their government.

Tom Vilsack

partnership home people

I wish I could give you all the examples over the last two years as secretary of agriculture, where I hear people in rural America constantly being criticized, without any expression of appreciation for what they do do.

Tom Vilsack

expression appreciation years

Rural Americans want leaders who help middle-class communities to plan and prosper over the long-term - not opportunists who reap the rewards for themselves, leaving nothing for the people who do the sowing.

Tom Vilsack

class long people

Americans ... want leaders who share their values, understand their needs, and respect their intelligence.

Tom Vilsack

leader want needs

I would say that, from an agricultural perspective, I have a little bit of concern, because some of the folks I don't know are particularly supportive of the renewable fuel industry and the renewable fuel standard, which is a big part of certainly Midwestern agriculture. I'm hopeful that, when we see his ultimate selection for ag secretary, that we will see someone who is a strong advocate for renewable fuels, and what that means to Midwestern producers. And, for that matter, now, all over the country, we're seeing more and more of the biofuels being produced from a variety of sources.

Tom Vilsack

strong mean country