Notice of Appointments for Membership to the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board

Section 802 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 authorized the creation of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board. The Board is composed of 30 members, each representing a specific category in the legislation, which relates to farming or ranching, food and fiber production and processing, transportation of agricultural products, forestry research, aquaculture research, crop, soil, and animal science, human health associations, land-grant institutions, food retailing and marketing, rural economic development, farm cooperatives, and natural resource and consumer interest groups, among others. The Board members were first appointed in September 1996; one-third of the 30 members were appointed for a 1, 2, and 3 year term, respectively. The Advisory Board's role is to advise the Secretary of Agriculture on policies, priorities, and critical issues in agricultural research and education. As a result of the staggered appointments, the terms for 10 of the 30 members expired September 30, 1998. The Secretary of Agriculture has recently appointed 10 individuals to fill these membership slots. (Each will serve a 3-year appointment, effective October 1, 1998, until September 30, 2001.) Two additional appointments were made to fill two vacant slots for the 1- year remaining terms effective October 1, 1998, until September 30, 1999. The 12 newly appointed Advisory Board members, by category are: Category E: National Animal Commodity Organizations, John F. Clemmons, family cattle rancher in the high plains region of New Mexico; Category G: National Aquaculture Associations (1-year term), T. Michael Freeze, past president of the National Aquaculture Association, from Keo, Arkansas; Category H: National Food Animal Science Societies, Desmond A. Jolly, vice chair of the National Commission on Small Farms, Director of University of California-Davis Small Farms programs, and widely diversified in agriculture and member of several animal and food related organizations; Category I: National Crop, Soil, Agronomy, Horticulture or Weed Science Societies, Martin A. Massengale, partner in a family farm, President-Emeritus of University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Director of Center for Grassland Studies, former president of Crop Science Society of America; Category N: 1890 Land-Grant Colleges and Universities, Walter A. Hill, Dean of Agriculture, Tuskegee University, Alabama, and Research Director, George Washington Carver Agricultural Experiment Station; Category O: 1994 Equity in Education Land Grant Institutions, Gerald ``Carty'' Monette, president of Turtle Mountain Community College, Belmont, North Dakota, and President of American Indian Higher Education Consortium; Category R: Scientific Community not Closely Associated with Agriculture (1-year term), William H. Scouten, Director of the Biotechnology Center, Utah State University; Category T: Food Retailing and Marketing, Samuel E. Minor (Reappointed), owner and operator of farm and Spring House restaurant in Washington, Pennsylvania; Category V: Rural Economic Development, Ralph Paige (Reappointed), Executive Director of V: Rural Economic Development, Ralph Paige (Reappointed), Executive Director of Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, East Point, Georgia; Category W: National Consumer Interest Groups, Barbara S. Stowe (Reappointed), former Dean, College of Human Ecology, Kansas State University, currently consultant for AESOP on consumer issues; Category X: National Forestry Groups, Larry W. Tombaugh (Reappointed), Dean, College of Forest Resources, North Carolina State University; and Category Y: National Conservation or Natural Resource Groups, Cynthia A. Dunn, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Audubon Society, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, broadly diversified on natural resource and environmental issues, and an environmental educator of youth.