National Peanut Board appointments

WASHINGTON — Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue today appointed five members and six alternates to serve on the National Peanut Board. The appointees will serve three-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2018, and ending Dec. 31, 2020. One appointee will serve the remaining one-year portion of a vacancy.

Newly appointed members are:

• Tom Corcoran, Eufaula, Ala.
• William T. Carte, Live Oak, Fla.
• Paul Rogers, Wakefield, Va.

Newly appointed alternates are:

• Thomas Adams, Newville, Ala.
• Jeremy Rolling, Westville, Fla.
• Westley B. Drake, Newsoms, Va.
• Jeff Roper, Lubbock, Texas (1-year term)

Reappointed members are:

• Joe H. Morgan, Hattiesburg, Miss.
• Dan Ward, Clarkton, N.C.

Reappointed alternates are:

• Lonnie Fortner, Port Gibson, Miss.
• Raymond P. Garner Jr., Roanoke Rapids, N.C.

“Research and consumer education are keys to growing the $1 billion peanut industry in America,” said Perdue. “Both the new and continuing members of the board bring great insight to this work from their many years of experience helping America’s 7,000 peanut-farming families improve production practices and continue to produce the world’s highest-quality peanut product for people around the globe.”

The board is composed of 12 producer members and their alternates. Eleven members and alternates are from the primary peanut producing states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. An at-large member and alternate represent the minor peanut producing states.

Research and promotion programs are industry-funded, authorized by Congress and date back to 1966. Since then, Congress has authorized the establishment of 22 research and promotion boards. They empower agricultural industries by establishing a framework for them to pool resources and combine efforts to develop new markets, strengthen existing markets, and conduct important research and promotion activities. The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) provides oversight, paid for by industry assessments, which helps ensure fiscal responsibility, program efficiency and fair treatment of participating stakeholders.

More information about the National Peanut Board, including a roster of members, is available on the National Peanut Board page of the AMS website and at the National Peanut Board website.

–USDA

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