Farm groups urge Trump to nominate Bechdol to head FAO

A large coalition of U.S. farm and agriculture groups have sent a letter to President Trump urging him to nominate Beth Bechdol, an American who is currently a deputy director-general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, for the position of FAO director-general. 

The next election for a director general will take place in the summer of 2027. The director-general is elected for a four-year term, renewable once, and the second term of QU Dongyu, a Chinese, will expire at that time. 

The letter sets up a potential conflict over the future of American leadership at the Rome-based UN food agencies. 

Since the 1990s, an American has held the position of executive director of the UN World Food Program, a sister organization to the FAO that is the world’s largest humanitarian organization and the leading provider of school meals in low-income countries. The United States has considered holding that position extremely important for the distribution of surplus food, and there is a global surplus of commodities at the present time. It’s extremely unlikely that other countries would agree to Americans holding both positions. 

Cindy McCain, the American who is WFP executive director, has announced she will leave the post this spring due to health problems. Countries also nominate candidates for the WFP post, and the choice is made by the UN secretary-general and the FAO director-general. 

There have been rumors that the top candidate for Trump to nominate for the WFP  post is Agriculture Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Luke Lindberg, although Kip Tom, the U.S. ambassador to the Rome-based UN agencies in the first Trump administration, and Lynda Blanchard, the current ambassador to the Rome-based agencies, are also considered candidates.

Lindberg, who is also the son-in-law of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., declined in an interview Friday with The Hagstrom Report to comment on whether he is a candidate for that nomination.

The groups advocating for Bechdol for the top FAO post noted in the letter, “An American has not led FAO in more than 70 years, even as the United States remains its largest financial contributor.”

“A strong American director-general can realign FAO in ways that better reflect U.S. interests, such as focusing FAO’s core functions to serve the 21st century needs of the agricultural sector,” the letter said.

They also said Bechdol, who began her career at the Agriculture Department under President George W. Bush, is “uniquely positioned” to win the election. 

The letter was released by the American Feed Industry Association. AFIA President and CEO Constance Cullman said in a news release that AFIA “proudly supports Beth Bechdol for FAO director-general.”

“Beth brings deep agricultural roots, strong policy expertise, and proven leadership at the FAO. Her commitment to science-based policies and fair trade will help strengthen global food security while supporting American farmers, ranchers, and the rural communities that depend on a strong U.S. agriculture and animal feed sector,” Cullman said.

If the White House were to take the suggestion seriously, it’s also likely that other American agricultural and political leaders would compete for the nomination. 

But the prospect of the United States government fighting to make an American the director-general of FAO is questionable. Countries nominate candidates, but the election is held by secret ballot among delegates from the 194 FAO member countries.

The government of Ireland has already announced it will nominate Phil Hogan, a former European Union commissioner for trade and before that a commissioner for agriculture and rural development. Ireland is making the case that a European has not held the position for more than 50 years. 

For years some U.S. farm leaders have suggested that the United States give up the WFP post in favor of the FAO post because FAO has a broader mandate to influence agricultural policy in its member countries than WFP’s food distribution programs

“With Beth at the helm, FAO becomes a practical tool for delivering results for rural America — opening markets for U.S. products and technology, advancing science-based policies, supporting plant and animal health, promoting food safety, and helping U.S. farmers compete more effectively in global markets,” the farm groups said in the letter, which was signed by both the Republican-leaning American Farm Bureau Federation and the Democratic-leaning National Farmers Union. 

FAO is perhaps best known for issuing the monthly index of world food prices and it engages in a broad range of data collection as well as conducting a wide range of programs in many developing countries to reduce hunger and increase agricultural production. 

Some farm leaders have also suggested combining the two agencies, with an American leading the combined organization.