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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s aura in my childhood home was so pervasive that you would have thought he was a member of our family.

Growing up on a farm in Northeast Iowa taught me the values of resilience and innovation—qualities that have guided my work as USDA’s Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs. I reflect on the progress we have made in advancing U.S. agricultural exports and driving economic growth.

In 2022, Dr. Engil Pereira, professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), participated in the E. Kika De La Garza (EKDLG) Fellowship with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) at the National Soil Survey Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Anthony (AJ) Jackson, Jr.’s journey from studying agribusiness to working in agricultural communications is proof of how mentorship and scholarship opportunities can change the course of a career.

“Many people come to college but don’t know what they want to do,” said Reese Baker, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 1890 National Scholar and junior at Southern University A&M in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Baker had also felt the same way until she changed her major and followed her passion for...