USDA Appointments Announced

President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Edward M. Avalos as under secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) which includes the oversight of the Agricultural Marketing Service, the Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service and the Grain Inspectors, Packers and Stockyards Administration.

Avalos has 34 years experience in agriculture marketing-29 years at the New Mexico Department of Agriculture and five years with the Texas Department of Agriculture. He is a member of the New Mexico Wool Growers Association.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced this week the appointments of Doug Caruso as administrator of the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Jay Jensen as deputy under secretary for USDA's Natural Resources and Environment (NRE).

Caruso returns to USDA having been a FSA state executive director in Wisconsin from 1993 to 2001 where he served 100,000 farmers and rural landowners through a network of 60 county offices.

Jensen will have responsibility for the U.S. Forest Service (FS), which manages 193 million acres of National Forest System lands and provides assistance to the more than 10 million family-forest landowners in this country. The NRE mission area includes the FS and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

<< Back