On March 24 USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced appointments for the Agency’s new Minority Farmer Advisory Committee. Authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill, the Committee will make recommendations to Vilsack on outreach and assistance for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, including increased participation in USDA programs and program and policy recommendations.
The appointees, who will serve a two-year term, are as follows:
Robert Anderson, Oklahoma Black Historical Research Project, Earlsboro, Oklahoma
Donna Brew, Farmer/Rancher, Gooding, Idaho
Ben Burkett, Farmer/Rancher, Petal, Mississippi
William Buster, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Jeannie Crittendon, Farmer, Jackson, Michigan
Archie Hart, Farmer, Knight Dale, North Carolina
Paula Garcia, New Mexico Acequia Association, Mora, New Mexico
Omar Garza, U.S. Mexico Border Coalition, St. Elena, Texas
Dr. Dewayne Goldman, Black Growers Council, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
William Hudson, Florida A & M University, Tallahassee, Florida
Richard Molinar, University of California, Reedley, California
Brian Thomas, Farmer/Rancher, Owyhee, Nevada
Baldemar Velasquez, Farm Labor Organizing Committee, Toledo, Ohio
Randall Ware, Farmer/ Rancher, Fort Cobb, Oklahoma
John Zippert, Federation of Southern Cooperatives, Eutaw, Alabama