Commissioner Farmer elected SASDA president

KAN staff report

Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer was elected president of the Southern Association of State Departments of Agriculture (SASDA) at the conclusion of its annual conference in June in Nashville.

SASDA is made up of the commissioners, secretaries or directors of agriculture in 15 southeastern states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The SASDA states accounted for more than $73.5 billion in farm cash receipts in 2005, nearly one-third of the total for the United States, according to the Economic Research Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“I am honored and humbled to be elected to this position,” Commissioner Farmer said. “I appreciate the confidence my peers in the other SASDA states have placed in me. This position will give me the opportunity to represent farmers in Kentucky and the entire Southeast in discussions with Congress and USDA on the Farm Bill and on other issues that are so important to the economy of the region.”

Other officers elected for 2007-08 were Terry Peach, Oklahoma, vice president; Dr. Louis E. Peterson Jr., Virgin Islands, secretary, and Tommy Irvin, Georgia, treasurer.

SASDA is a regional association of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, which represents the agriculture departments in the 50 states and four U.S. territories in developing sound public policy and programs that support American agriculture while protecting consumers and the environment.

The 2008 SASDA conference will be held in Kentucky. “I am looking forward to this opportunity to show our neighbors in the other southeastern states the best of our Commonwealth and why we are Kentucky Proud,” Commissioner Farmer said.