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