American Soybean Association CEO nominated to be USDA Deputy Secretary

Jul 14, 2017

Stephen Censky has served as ASA CEO for 21 years

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

U.S. President Trump nominated the current CEO of the American Soybean Association (ASA) to be the Deputy Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture.

Stephen Censky has served as CEO of the ASA for the last 21 years. Prior to that, he served the USDA in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush Administrations.

Censky’s experiences make him a perfect fit to serve as USDA Deputy Secretary, according to a number of U.S. agricultural organizations.

Stephen Censky

“Nobody in agriculture is better equipped to assist Secretary Perdue in meeting the needs of farmers with practical solutions than Steve,” ASA president Ron Moore said in a July 14 statement. “He is a perfect fit for this role and we give him our strongest endorsement.”

“Steve knows firsthand the importance of increasing global demand for U.S. agricultural products, growing the renewable fuels industry, and protecting risk management programs,” Wesley Spurlock, president of the National Corn Growers Association, said in a statement.” His background and experience are especially welcome as we begin to shape the next farm bill.

““He is an aggressive advocate for farmers and truly understands how important international trade is to the ag economy, and how critical a strong crop insurance program is for farmers to farm another year when they experience a weather or economic storm,” Chandler Goule, CEO of the National Association of Wheat Growers, said in a July 13 statement.

USDA Secretary Perdue is eager to work with Censky, too.

“He will bring enthusiasm and a dedication to this country which will be great assets to USDA’s customers,” he said in a July 13 statement. “I am extremely pleased with the nomination for this key position and am hopeful that the Senate will take it up in short order.”

Before serving in the public sector, Censky earned his B.S. in agriculture from South Dakota State University and a postgraduate diploma in agriculture science from the University of Melbourne in Australia.

And he spent his childhood on a corn, soybean and diversified livestock farm near Jackson, Minnesota.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.