I am supporting the Federal COVID-19 response through my current job at the Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC. I am currently assigned to the Federal Agricultural Service (FAS) in the Office of Trade Policy and Geographic Affairs. FAS is the lead U.S. agency tasked with promoting exports of U.S. agricultural products and advances the growth of U.S. agricultural exports through market intelligence, trade policy, capacity building, and trade promotion programs. The U.S. annually exports over 20% of its agricultural production to overseas markets. As a strategic advisor and managing director to one of the FAS Deputy Administrators, I am responsible for overseeing the potential and actual trade barriers realized by the pandemic. Our office advises the Administrator and the Secretary’s office on how the pandemic may impact foreign agricultural trade policy or have a strategic impact on exports. We work closely with the Dept. of State and the U.S. Trade Representative. We’re on mandatory telework, so our work with our overseas posts consists of conference calls and Microsoft Teams sessions. Even our meetings with the U.S. Trade Representative and the agricultural industry advocates have been switched to conference calls. It’s a strange work environment, and I hope it ends soon.
Mr. Donald J. Modder
Resident Class of 2012
Department of Agriculture
