The U.S. Senate recently confirmed the first Latino to be Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Xochitl Torres Small was confirmed by the Senate on July 11 in an 84-8 vote.
USDA Sec. Tom Vilsack, in a statement released the same day, said he was "grateful to have Xochitl’s partnership at the helm of the People’s Department." Torres Small, USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development since October 2021, "has time and again met the moment with a collaborative approach and a can-do spirit," Vilsack said, "and I applaud Congress for confirming her as USDA’s next Deputy Secretary.”
Vilsack said in the statement that the USDA Rural Development team "made record progress" for rural residents in the U.S. by driving down energy costs, improving access to high-speed internet, expanding processing capacity for U.S. livestock producers, and increasing affordable-housing options.
Xochitl Torres Small
| U.S. Department of Agriculture/Wikimedia Commons
Communities Unlimited, a nonprofit organization serving rural communities in seven states in the southern U.S., congratulated Torres Small on Facebook as "the first Latino deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture."
"As the granddaughter of migrant farm workers, Xochitl experienced firsthand the challenges that many producers and rural communities face day in and day out," Vilsack said in the statement. "The hard work and determination she witnessed informs her commitment to public service and her respect for those we serve."
Torres Small was also the first person of color and the first woman to serve as a U.S. Representative in Congress for New Mexico's second congressional district, the fifth-largest district in the country. As a representative, Torres Small was on the House Agriculture Committee, the House Armed Services Committee and served as chairwoman of the Oversight, Management, and Accountability Subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee.
"Xochitl Torres Small has dedicated her career to serving the agriculture industry and the American people," Vilsack said in his statement, "and I have witnessed her lead with energy, authenticity and personal investment that I know will leave an impact on USDA for years to come."
