VDACS commissioner tapped to serve as deputy secretary of USDA Published Monday, Jan. 18, 2021, 3:06 pm Join AFP's 100,000+ followers on Facebook Purchase a subscription to AFP | Subscribe to AFP podcasts on iTunes News, press releases, letters to the editor: augustafreepress2@gmail.com Front Page » Government/Politics » Politics2 » VDACS commissioner tapped to serve as deputy secretary of USDA Jewel H. Bronaugh Dr. Jewel H. Bronaugh has been appointed deputy secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture. Bronaugh, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services since 2018, will become the first African American deputy secretary of the USDA, which consists of 29 agencies and offices with nearly 100,000 employees who serve at more than 4,500 locations across the country and abroad.