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FIRST ON WGIL: Agriculture Secretary Makes Surprise Visit to Galesburg
FIRST REPORTED: 3:00pm 6/3/09 One of President Barack Obama's cabinet members went a little farther east on his trip this week to Illinois than most people expected.

Agriculture Secretary and former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack held a meeting in the Henry County town of Geneseo Monday where, the Illinois Farm Bureau says, he talked about how federal economic stimulus dollars are going to help the rural economy. But, Knox County Farm Service Agency Office Executive Director Victor Rhea says Vilsack made a surprise side-trip to his office as well, meeting and greeting about 20 or so people.

Rhea tells WGIL Vilsack didn't stay for long but hopefully got a sense of what the local office does. "(Vilsack) gave a...short presentation on a funding policy or proposal that he was working on as far as new computer funds," Rhea said. "The farm loan manager here used some stimulus money that they had put together for loan funds, and he was happy to hear that. We took a group picture, then he went around and toured the rest of the building."

Rhea says all in all, Vilsack was only at the FSA office about 20 minutes, but as far as he can tell, went over well with the office's staff.

Rhea says it's important to have someone like Vilsack working on behalf of agriculture, given his experience with it as Iowa Governor.
06 03 09 by Newsroom
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