Iowa agricultural leaders last week applauded President-elect Joe Biden’s nomination of Tom Vilsack as U.S. secretary of agriculture. If confirmed to head the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Vilsack would return to the position he held from 2009 through 2016, during the Obama administration.

“We are very pleased he has been chosen to once again lead the USDA,” said Craig Hill, a War­­ren County crop and...