Glickman Names Members to Advisory Committee on Small Farms
                                                               
                                            Release No. 0477.99
                                                               
                     Media Contact:  Maria Bynum (202) 720-5192
                                           maria.bynum@usda.gov
                        Public Contact: Al Drain (202) 720-3238
                                           adrain@nass.usda.gov
                                                               
GLICKMAN NAMES MEMBERS TO ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON SMALL FARMS

     WASHINGTON, Dec.6, 1999 Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman today named
19 members to serve on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Advisory Committee
on Small Farms.

     "This committee will be a critical link in the Administration's
commitment to help small farmers and ranchers across the country preserve
their livelihood for future generations," said Glickman.  "I will rely on this
committee to provide insight and input on actions to strengthen USDA programs
that contribute to the viability and growth of small farms and ranches."

     The advisory committee, authorized for two years, will review USDA
programs and strategies to implement small farm policy and advise the
Secretary on approaches to improve the department programs.
     
     Glickman appointed Jesse Harness, a member of the National Commission on
Small Farms, as chair of the committee.  He is the director of special
programs and associate extension administrator of Alcorn State University in
Fayette, Mississippi.  
     
     Appointed members include: 
     
          ARKANSAS:  Suzanne L. Bertrand Small Farms Special Projects Coordinator,
     Heifer Project International in Little Rock;
          Calvin R. King, Sr. Founder and Executive Director, Arkansas Land and
     Farm Development Corporation in Aubrey;

     CALIFORNIA: Ranuir Singh Fruit farmer in Marysville; 

     COLORADO:  Majorie Jarrett Rancher in Wray;

          IOWA:  Neil D. Hamilton Director of Agricultural Law Center and
     Professor of Law, Drake University Law School in Waukee;

          KENTUCKY:  Karen S. Armstrong-Cummings Director, Commodity Growers
     Cooperative Association in Frankfurt, and member of the National
     Commission on Small Farms;
                                             
          MISSOURI:  Harold Eugene Garrett Professor and Director of Center for
     Agroforestry, University of Missouri in Columbia;

          NEBRASKA: Edgar J. Hicks President, DHV Inc., Minority owned farmers
     commodities corporation in Omaha;

          NORTH CAROLINA:  Archilus L. Hart Assistant to Commissioner of
     Agriculture, Small Farms Agricultural Policy in Knightdale;

          OKLAHOMA: Dayle Larue Aldridge Director of Small Farms Outreach for the
     Oklahoma Landowners and Tenants Association in Taft; 
          Don R. Crittenden Farmer/Rancher, Cherokee National Tribal Council
     Member in Taklequah;

          PENNSYLVANIA: Marion Long Bowlan Farmer and Executive Director of
     Pennsylvania Farm Link, Inc. in Manheim, and member of the National
     Commission on Small Farms;

          SOUTH CAROLINA:  Thomas Joseph Trantham, Jr. Dairy Farmer in Pelzer, and
     member of National Commission on Small Farms;

          TEXAS:  Golden J. Hardy  Farmer and member of Jefferson County Farm
     Service Agency Committee in Beaumont;

          VERMONT:  Jon W. Anderson Executive Secretary at the Vermont Department
     of Agriculture, Food and Markets in Montpelier;

          VIRGIN ISLANDS:  Helen Gonzalez Farmer owner and operator, Director of
     Farmers Feed Cooperative, St. Croix; 

          WASHINGTON: Luz Bazan Gutierrez President, Washington Association of
     Minority Entrepreneurs, Inc., in Yakima; and

          WISCONSIN: George L. Siemon Farmer and CEO, Organic Valley Cooperative
     in Viroqua.

     The advisory committee's first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 19
and Wednesday, Jan. 20 in Room 104 of USDA's Jamie Whitten Federal Building,
1400 Independence Ave., S.W. here in Washington.  All committee meetings are
open to the public.


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