It's still a mystery (to us at the Yonder anyway) who will be President Obama's Secretary of Agriculture. It looked like former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (above) was a shoo-in. Then The Hill reported last week that the president-elect is considering Reps. Collin Peterson (D- Minn) and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.). The argument against these two is that they represent districts that Democrats might have a hard time winning.Now the Des Moines Register is reporting that Vilsack is definitely out. Vilsack told the paper in an e-mail that he had never been contacted by President-elect Obama's transition team about that job or any other. "I would have to speculate that I was in fact in the running and further speculate as to why I was no longer. I do not think it prudent or appropriate to speculate about either," Vilsack said. The Washington Post had called him a "near shoo-in" for the job. If you still want to know more about Vilsack, the Blog for Rural America has another take on the kind of job he would do as Ag Secretary. The blog post may be outdated now in terms of the candidate. However, it's still a good summary of the issues facing the next Ag Secretary and definitely worth a read.