The National Family Farm Coalition describes good and bad things that Vilsack did to family farms. It does not see him as a monster, but says he had better commit to protecting farmers against agribusiness.

Why not choose someone who will hustle to resist agribusines?

Vilsack tried to pass useful reforms in 2010, but dawdled till after the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives.

The Sunrise Movement rebuked Biden for choosing Vilsack rather than the progressive Rep. Marcia Fudge who has focused on agriculture policy in her career.

We're glad to see @RepMarciaFudge in the cabinet, but she lobbied to be the Ag. secretary It's insulting that, instead of a progressive black woman, @JoeBiden & @Transition46 chose Vilsack, who covered up racial discrimination last time he had the job.

(I quote that tweet without linking to it, because Twitter is shutting down the ability to view tweets without running nonfree JS code. I copied that tweet from an article that I decline to reference on account of its bigotry in writing "Black" and "white", but the tweet I've quoted states its main point.)