McKinney confirmed to lead new USDA trade post

The Senate has confirmed Ted McKinney to serve as the undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, a newly created post within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).    The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Ted McKinney to serve as the undersecretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, a newly created post within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
   The position was originally proposed as part of the 2014 Farm Bill and is seen as critical to the Trump administration’s goal to improve the direction of the individual cabinet-level departments.
   Prior to this appointment, McKinney served as director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture from 2014. He also worked 19 years for Dow AgroSciences, and 14 years with Elanco, a subsidiary of Eli Lilly, where he was director of global corporate affairs.