Truman Finalist Interview Prep - 3/``12/2026

Key Leave-behinds

1) Change Agent

2) Career in Public Service

3) Heart and Compassion

Change Agent meaning

Bringing people together and working with others to affect change

Change Agent examples

1) CFB Funding and Activities (

2) TJ campaign (across the aisle)

3) MU WIP (rural Republicans and progressive Indian intl. students; ag and env. students)

5) MSA - Not just respected, but invited to parties by folks that would otherwise crucify a Republican

4) Agriscience Fair - advocated for statewide recognition and the next year saw record enrollment—especially in Environmental Systems

My Cause

Want my children to inherit a world that is full of abundant food while preserving our heritage lands

Where I diverge from republicans

1) Tribal issues - USACE has taught us what it means to lose your land

2) Abortion - not my issue

United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization's The State of the World's Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture ( 025)

The global population is currently anticipated to increase from 8.2 to 9.7 billion people, requiring global agriculture to produce roughly 50% more food to feed this growing world.

The Wizard and the Prophet - Charles C. Mann (2018)

Explores the dueling visions of two 20th-century scientists, Norman Borlaug (the "Wizard") and William Vogt (the "Prophet"), whose opposing ideas on technology and conservation shape today's debates on humanity's future, particularly concerning food, water, energy, and climate change

William Vogt

Influential American ecologist and ornithologist who is widely considered the "grandfather of the modern environmental movement". He is best known for his 1948 bestseller, Road to Survival, which was the first major post-WWII publication to sound the alarm on global overpopulation and resource depletion. He was Rachel Carson before Rachel Carson.

2024 Report to Congress on China's WTO Compliance (dated Jan, 2025)

USTR aware of Chinese influence; USTR launched investigation; "Since 2021, China's National Biosafety Committee (NBC) has issued biosafety certificates to foreign developers for several new GE products for import as feed or for processing, including alfalfa, canola, corn, cotton, soybean, and sugarcane products. Some of these approved products had been under review for more than 10 years. During the same time period, China has issued biosafety certificates to Chinese developers for dozens of new corn, cotton and soybean varieties for domestic cultivation, including both transgenic and genomeedited products."

Truman and Agriculture Policy

Brannon Plan - Proposed in 1949 by Secretary Charles Brannan, this plan aimed to guarantee a higher income standard for farmers using a "production payment" system rather than just market price supports. Became irrelevant as Korean War led to reduced surpluses of commodities (i.e. increased demand)

First Farm Bill signed:

1933 (FDR)

Why Brannon Plan failed?

Failed due to lobbying by farm organizations, who were miffed at not being consulted during the creation of the proposal; also, conservative fiscal hawks

Marshall Plan (aka European Recovery Program) signed into law when?

By Truman on April 3rd, 1948

Per USDA-ERS, since about 2013, the percentage of acreage planted with GM seed for corn, cotton, and soy has exceeded____

90%

Based on 2023 U.S. Census data, consumers spend ____ of their monthly budgets on food.

13%

Food is the ____ largest budget item for the average U.S. consumer (behind housing and transportation).

3rd

The cost of intermediate inputs (seed, pesticides, fertilizers) accounted for between ____ of total intermediate production costs for U.S. farmers between 2016 and 2025.

36-39%

Organizations to tackle harmonization:

ASTA, BIO, Borlaug Foundation

Why law school?

Write and defend laws and rules in court (EPA and ESA-consultation compliance); law/policymakers should have formal education (Turner example); WOTUS; both the Secretary and Undersecretary @ USDA have JDs.

Takeaways from working in politics.

With few exceptions, there are no permanent enemies or permanent friends. Never know where you'll overlap or depart. Keep good relationships. (Oklahoma v. Tyson & Cargill; I oppose Poultry Federation's policy here, even if Blake Rollins wrote my Truman letter)

In developing countries, __ percent of the necessary production increases would come from increases in yields and cropping intensity and only __ percent from expansion of arable land. (FAO - How to Feed world by 2050)

80/20

As of May 2025, OCSPP/OPP had a backlog of ___ pesticides. (Reuters)

over 12,000

What does your favorite book (work of art, play, poem) tell us about you?

Why will your policy proposal actually make a difference when similar measures have failed?

If you could take part in any social movement of the 20th century what would it be?

Beats

Name three public figures that you admire or who inspire you?

What makes you tick and what ticks you off?

Who is your favorite scholar in your discipline? Least favorite?

How would Truman respond to your policy?

Argue a political position you feel strongly; now argue the other side.

E15

What is most important to you: civic duty or personal liberty? Why?

If the problem that most interests you is fixed overnight, what would you do and what problem would you turn your attention to next?

Have experience with this in MU WIP lol

How would you repair the electoral process?

Trick question. I like it. PUSH BACK!

How did you respond to a recent failure?

Not sure.

Why would you support this policy given the experiences and beliefs you share in the rest of the application?

(Know your application)

Environmental Literature

1) Road to Survival - William Vogt

2) Silent Spring - Rachel Carson

3) The Population Bomb - Paul Ehrlich

4) The Wizard & the Prophet - Charles C. Mann

5) No Farms, No Food - Don Stuart (AFT)

Publications that I follow

1) CRS Reports

2) NALC Newsletters

3) Industry Newsletters (Substack, LinkedIn)

4) Missouri Scout

Relevant Reports

-2025 State of the World’s Land & Water Resources for Food and Agriculture (SOLAW) - UNFAO

-How to Feed the World in 2050 (2009) - UNFAO

Why a career in public service?

Concern for environment naturally leads oneself to a career in public service because the environment itself is a public good. We need policy leaders ready to tackle these issues because of the “tragedy of the commons”—the natural incentive to degrade environmental quality—meaning that natural ordering will not prioritize preservation.