The short list of three names includes Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, Charles Stenholm, and Dennis Wolff. See an earlier post of this topic: Obama’s Agriculture Secretary: Who Should It Be?
According to an announcement in The Washington Post, each of the candidates has numerous strengths and weaknesses. These names do not make the sustainable agriculture and organic comminities very happy …
Kathleen Sebelius’s bio reads as follows:
Credentials: Eight years in the Kansas legislature; two terms as state insurance commissioner; now in her second and final term as governor. Served as chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association, a group Bill Clinton once led. Gave the Democratic response in January to President Bush‘s last State of the Union address.
Charles Stenholm’s bio reads as follows:
Current job: Lobbyist and senior policy adviser at Washington-based agricultural law firm Olsson Frank Weeda.
Credentials: Member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 13 terms, from 1979 to 2005, and former ranking Democratic member of the Agriculture Committee. Graduated from Texas Tech University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agriculture education. Operated a cotton farm near Abilene, Tex., for several years.
Dennis Wolff’s bio reads as follows:
Current job: Pennsylvania agriculture secretary.
Credentials: A sixth-generation dairy farmer who owns Pen-Col Farms, a 600-acre dairy cattle operation. Serves as a board member of the Pennsylvania Dairy Stakeholders and on the university board of trustees at Penn State. Successfully pushed for a state law that deals with water-quality issues and helps to result conflicts between farmers and local communities.
CYNTHIA D. BERTELSEN 
As a Kansas resident and farmer, I recommend Sebelius not be appointed Secrtary of Agriculture. She does not understand the industry, has never held a private sector job yet alone work in the agriculture industry. She has no frame of reference to make sound decisions regarding agri-business operations. She embarassed the wine industry in her own state and under her watch Kansas State has virtually eliminated their fruit and nut programs. Dennis Wolff clearly has the stronger resume.