secretary of agriculture tom vilsack is the last original member of the obama cabinet.is also the former governor of iowa. we began the conversation by looking ahead to his yet-to-be- named successor in the trump administration. >> i would say from an agricultural perspective, i have a little bit of concern pause some of the folks i don't know are particularly supportive of the renewable fuel industry and the renewable fuel standard, which say big part of certainly midwestern agriculture. i'm hopeful that when we see his ultimate selection for ag secretary that we'll see someone who is a strong advocate for renewable fuels and what that means to midwestern producers and for that matter, now all over the country we're seeing more and more of the biofuels being produced from a variety of sources. >> woodruff: so renewable fuels. any other signals that you've seen him give as it affects agriculture policy, food stamp policy, a big part of what the department does? >> well, on a positive side, his designee-to-be ambassador to china, terry branstad from ohio, i think is a go

sharyl: at his confirmation hearing in 2009, agriculture secretary tom vilsack promised to change the culture. but donnelley testified little has changed. lesa donnelly: in the last eight years there's been virtually no , response to our requests. i wish i could say there was improvement. one thing that had improved. and i can't. things have gotten worse in terms of the blatant harassment against women minorities, people , with disabilities. leaders insist they're making progress. they point to a decrease in the number of harassment complaints and say internal investigations are faster now. alicia dabney -- who featured in our report -- has long since left the forest service. the government paid her a settlement, but admitted no fault. sharyl: ahead, some cuban-americans celebrated the recent death of fidel castro. we'll visit little havana in miami to see what they think about the new relations with cuba and how the new trump sharyl: when dictator fidel castro rose to power in cuba over half a century ago, many to south florida. today, in our "full measure" pulse piece, lisa fletcher

you have somebody like agricultural secretary tom vilsack saying the democratic party is like a tree that looks healthy on the outside but is in the throes of a slow and long-term demise. >> i have the secretary, but i'm more optimistic about the strength of the democratic party, and what i would say, because you talked about these numbers, some reasons to be hopeful, because it's necessary, because this is about policy, it's not about politics. it's about politics for some, but for us it's about protecting medicare, social security, good. >> paying jobs, america's workers, protecting a woman's right to choose, issues that unify us. time that a presidential... the change in president from one party to the next, the states receive an infusion of talent. president obama going out of the office sadly not having% come in, but those democrats will come back. run for government, run for state legislatures and the rest. and we will build up the numbers that you're talking about there. >> dickerson: all right. we have to leave it there. thank you. >> upward and onward. >> dickerson: thank yo

fellow iowan and current usda chief tom vilsack says don't dismiss branstad from the world stage because he comes from a rural state. "he's tenacious, and he's going to . he's tireless, he's going to have to be and he understands and appreciates the importance of trade and he will have to."> branstad is the longest serving governor in u-s history and has known chinese president xi jinping for more than 30 years. farmers are feeling a little better about the future, at least according to one new survey. the latest purdue ag economy barometer reached an index point of 116 of 92. a rating below 100 is negative, while a rating above 100 indicates positive sentiment. organizers say the improved rating can be attributed to an improvement in farmers' perspective about the future... motivated in part by better corn and soybean prices. however, organizers also note the jump in producer sentiment also reflected fewer respondents with a negative outlook, rather than a notable shift toward a positive outlook on the agricultural economy. soybean seed from bayer. that's it for news...meteorologist mik

cranberry growers are asking ag secretary tom vilsack for some help with their bumper crop this year. the congressional cranberry caucus, which is comprised of 17 members of congress, wrote a letter to the secretary asking him to make a large purchase of cranberries, just like he did for milk producers earlier this year. excess product is weighing on prices around the country. growers can manage oversupply by destroying or dumping the crop, but the caucus thinks the cranberries would be put to better use through delivering it to local food pantries. in 2013, usda made a large purchase of cranberries when growers faced another bumper crop. brought to you by vorvus pre emergence corn hebricide from bayer. the only herbicide to offer three levels of defense against weeds. burndown resideual and reactivation with rain. that's it for news...meteorologist mike hoffman with a longer range look stay? thanks tyne absolutely and in fact we're gonna see our first real blast of arctic air coming across a country. you're already starting to see in the far northwestern sections. you can see on the

let's bring in tom vilsack. also former governor of iowa. joint commission meeting in washington, d.c. what would be your advice to the new ambassador, secretary? >> well, i think he needs to continue to be tenacious. to continue to promote the quality of american agricultural products in china and the need for china to create greater synchronization with their approval process and continue to work to open up the beef market. i think those are two really critically important aspects of our relationship on agriculture with china. >> how would you describe the relationship right now that china has with the united states and in particular its view on the incoming administration? >> somewhat of a paradox. in one case, in one circumstance, you look at the amount of agricultural products and they are our number one or number two customer. we want to maintain that relationship. i'm sure there's some concern about the statements that have been attributed to the incoming administration in terms of the relationship with china. obviously the issue with

he sort of thinks because we had a good ag through the ag secretary tom vilsack that meant rural america been -- maybe rural america was not just worried about the farm bill and how not safe the world was, how deficits were growing and how the country seemed to be going in the wrong direction and we're having economic recovery where people not seeing their paychecks grow. patti ann: mr. obama also interestingly expressed concerns that we're moving into an era which quote, in which we are looking for simple solutions. woe shut ourselves off from different points of view, shutting down debate, becoming more dogmatic. which party is he referring to there? >> this is really i thought one of the great ironic moments in the interview because remember in february of 2009, when the house republicans come down to suggest changes to his infrastructure program he cuts off eric cantor, the republican deputized to lay out their suggestions, saying i won. remember later in the year the republicans on the senate finance committee and democrats on the senate finance committee began to have meetings to d