Media reports this afternoon say former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler will be appointed as Secretary of Agriculture by President-elect Donald Trump.
Citing sources close to the transition team, Reuters, CNN and The Hill first reported that Loeffler, a stanch Republican political ally of Trump, would be the nominee. Appointments of the USDA's deputy secretary and undersecretaries haven't been announced yet.
If her nomination is confirmed, it will be a key position, as Department of Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy has threatened to crack down on unhealthy food - which is making many in the agricultural industry nervous about government overreach.
Trump announced earlier this month that his inaugural committee will be chaired by Florida real estate investor Steven Witkoff and Loeffler.
Over the weekend, Leedey, Okla., no-tiller Jimmy Emmons -- a nationally known advocate for soil health and no-tilling -- had been mentioned as a potential candidate for the cabinet post. It's unclear if he may still be tapped for a prominent role at the USDA or NRCS.
Loeffler was born in Bloomington, Ill., graduated from high school in Stanford, Ill., just west of Bloomington, and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master's of business administration from DePaul University in Chicago.
Loeffler is a former CEO of Bakkt, a financial services company focused on digital assets, and was co-owner of the Atlanta Dream women's professional basketball team until it was sold in 2021.
She was appointed as a Republican to the U.S. Senate after the resignation of Johnn Isakson, serving from Jan. 6, 2020 to Jan. 20, 2021. She lost her bid for election in 2021 during a special election to Democrat Raphael Warnock.
Loeffler is not known to have extensive ties to farm legislation. But according to her website, Loeffler grew up on her family's farm and "learned at a young age the importance of faith, family and hard work. She worked alongside her family in the fields and feedlots," later waitressing while attending public schools and college.
"Kelly's sense of personal responsibility and resilience amid adversity opened up the hard-earned opportunities that would inspire a career dedicated to achieving results and serving others. She was the first in her family to attend college - and was determined to make the most of her education by earning success and helping others do the same."
In a 2020 Twitter post, Loeffler said, "Growing up on the family farm, I learned at a young age that there's no substitute for hard work & doing the right thing. While the days of farm chores are over, I've never lost touch with my roots. These values still guide me daily as I serve in the U.S. Senate."
As a Senator, Loeffler sponsored the American Farmers, Food Banks, and Families Act of 2020, which was aimed to address food insecurity and support farmers during the Covid-19 pandemic. The bill did not advance beyond the committee level, however.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, at a black-tie gala for Georgia 4-H in 2019, Loeffler told the crowd of farmers, instructors and students how she got her start -- tending soybeans and corn and caring for cattle on her family's farm in rural Illinois.
"Whether it's memories of working with my dad in the feed lot with our cattle or sewing and baking with my mom, these are things, priceless memories, that have also helped me in the business world," Loeffler said.
In a 2020 article, Valparaiso, Ind., economist Daniel Saros said Loeffler, as a Senator, had been actively supporting economic policies that will benefit American farmers and consumers.
The $75 billion annual contribution that agribusinesses in Georgia makes to the state's aggregate production, "is closely tied to the existence of free trade in international commodity markets, he wrote. "She also understands that the continued development of the American agricultural sector depends on the expansion of free trade."