WASHINGTON, D.C. — As part of their continuing efforts to strengthen relations with the agriculture community, EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson last week announced the appointment of 30 citizens to serve on a newly-formed Farm, Ranch and Rural Communities Advisory Committee.<br>
“Through increased cooperation with our agriculture partners, EPA is planting the seeds to reap both environmental and economic benefits for the American people,” said Johnson.<br>
The committee is an important part of the administrator’s ongoing effort to strengthen relations with the farm community. It will advise the administrator on environmental policy issues impacting farms, ranches, and rural communities, and will operate under the rules of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).<br>
“I am honored and pleased to provide leadership to this positive breakthrough in relations between the EPA and the agriculture community,” said Committee Chairman James R. Moseley, a former USDA deputy secretary and an Indiana resident. “I look forward to helping the committee provide EPA with solutions that benefit agriculture, the environment, and the economy.”<br>
Moseley served as the deputy for USDA Secretary Ann Venneman, and he owns Ag Ridge Farms, which specializes in grains. He is also the managing partner of Infinity Pork, LLC, which raises hogs in Clarks Hill.<br>
Moseley has played a key role in development of public policy for agriculture, the environment and natural resources conservation at both state and national levels.<br>
Previous positions include serving as agricultural advisor to the administrator of the U.S. EPA as well as assistant secretary of agriculture for natural resources and environment from 1990-2002, where he provided leadership to the Forest Service and the NRCS on a variety of issues including endangered species, old-growth forests, livestock grazing on public lands, wetlands and policy issue related to the 1990 Farm Bill.<br>
In 1997, he also served as chair of the industry negotiating team for America’s Clean Water Foundation’s National Environmental Dialogue on Pork Production. Following the 1995 Farm Bill. Moseley served as a consultant to the National Assoc. of State Departments of Agriculture.<br>
From 1993-95, he also served as the director of agricultural services and regulations for the state of Indiana at Purdue University. He also served as a political analyst and member of the editorial board of the Farm Journal publications.<br>
The first meeting of the committee will take place March 13-14 at The Madison Hotel in Washington, D.C. Initially, the EPA will ask the committee to focus on three issues.<br>
The first issue is how EPA’s policies and regulations on climate change and renewable energy will affect the agriculture community, including how the agricultural industry can play a significant role in the nation’s ability to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and its dependence on oil imports through the development of renewable energy sources.<br>
Their second issue will be the development of an environmental strategy for managing waste from livestock operations that considers regulatory and voluntary approaches, and provides tools for producers to attain superior environmental performance.
And the last of their initial three issues will be the development of a constructive approach to advancing sustainable agriculture, protecting the environment, and addressing communication between environmental and agricultural interests. Other regional members of the committee will include Otto C. Doering of West Lafayette, Ind.; Dawn R. Riley of Louisville, Ky.; and Gary Cooper of Oakwood, Ohio.<br>
Doering, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University, is a public policy specialist who served the USDA by working on the 1977 and 1990 Farm Bills. <br>
In 1997, he was the principal advisor to USDA’s NRCS for implementing the 1996 Farm Bill, and in 1999 he was team leader for the economic analysis of the White House’s National Hypoxia Assessment looking at the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.
In addition, Doering has overseas experience with the Ford Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences, primarily in Southeast Asia. <br>
He has also served on Indiana’s Commission for Higher Education, served as director of the American Agricultural Economics Association, and chair of the National Public Policy Education Committee. He has twice received the AAEA’s Distinguished Policy Contribution Awards as well as its Extension Economics teaching Award.<br>
Riley owns and operated Dawn Riley Consulting and has held a number of senior level USDA positions in the areas of research, education, economics, food safety, nutrition and consumer services, including Chief of Staff to the USDA deputy secretary. In these positions, she has coordinated policy review, directed legislative staff and advised the secretary and key staff in programs and activities under various program offices.<br>
In addition to serving a the secretary/treasurer of the Burley and Dark Leaf Tobacco Assoc., Riley was a staff assistant to Senator Mitch McConnell and is involved in the development of a strategic plan for agriculture in the state of Kentucky.<br>
Cooper owns and operated his family farm, Cooper Farms, which produces hogs, turkeys and eggs. He is also the current president of the Ohio Poultry Association and member of the board of directors for the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association and the National Turkey Federation.<br>
Cooper Farms prides itself on its longstanding commitment to environmental stewardship and was the first recipient of the Water Resources Stewardship Award presented by the U.S. EPA, Region 5.
Members were selected from a pool of more than 200 applicants generated from a request for nominations published Nov. 15 in the Federal Register. The new members represent: large and small farmers, ranchers, and rural communities; rural suppliers, marketers, and processors; academics and researchers who study environmental issues impacting agriculture; and, environmental and conservation groups.<br>
The committee is being developed as part of a comprehensive National Agriculture Strategy adopted by the administrator in May 2006. <br>
That strategy seeks to engage agriculture in cooperative, collaborative, and innovative ways, in addition to the traditional regulatory programs the agency administers.<br>
For additional information about the committee and biographies of all newly appointed members, visit the EPA website at epa.gov/agriculture/frrcc