Appleton, Fisher to start work at USDA today

Brooke Appleton, who has been designated as Agriculture deputy undersecretary for farm production and conservation in the Trump administration, will begin work today, knowledgeable sources have told The Hagstrom Report. Most recently Appleton has been vice president for public policy at the National Corn Growers Association. In the first Trump administration, Appleton was chief of staff to Agriculture Deputy Secretary Steve Censky. 

Earlier she also worked for the National Association of Wheat Growers and for Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo. as professional staff of the House Small Business Committee focusing on agriculture and environmental issues and in his personal office handling issues related to his membership on the House Agriculture Committee. 

Appleton holds a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness management with minors in international agriculture and political science from the University of Missouri-Columbia.According to her LinkedIn biography, Appleton was raised on her family’s row crop and cattle farm near Stanberry, in northwest Missouri. Appleton is still heavily involved in the family’s farm and plans to continue the legacy that her great grandfather started.

Andrew Fisher will also start work today as a political appointee in the USDA’s Farm Production and Conservation mission area, the sources said. Fisher most recently worked for Sen. Mitch McConell, R-Ky. He worked at USDA in the first Trump administration. According to Legistorm, he has also worked for the National Pork Producers Council and for Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and for Reps. Kristi Noem, R-S.D. and Graves. Fisher has a bachelor of science degree in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri-Columbia. The Trump administration has not confirmed these appointments.

–The Hagstrom Report