LEESBURG, Ind. — A northern Indiana businessman has been confirmed as the country’s new ambassador of agriculture at the United Nations.

The U.S. Senate approved Kip Tom’s nomination in a voice vote Thursday. Tom is chief executive at Tom Farms, which is based in Leesburg in Kosciusko (kahs-ee-AHS’-koh) County. The farm grows corn and soybeans in seven northern Indiana counties.

Tom told a Senate committee that coping with climate change would be one of his priorities as ambassador.

Tom ran in the 2016 Republican primary for Congress in northeastern Indiana’s 3rd District, losing to U.S. Rep. Jim Banks.

He will be based in Rome representing the United States at the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture. President Donald Trump nominated Tom for the position last year.