ST. PAUL — A dairy and crop farmer from southern Minnesota will chair the Farm Service Agency state committee.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday, May 6, announced five appointments to the committee. The appointees are:
- Eunice Biel, a dairy and crop farmer from Harmony in Fillmore County, who will serve as chairwoman;
- Hannah Bernhardt, a beginning farmer and young farmer advocate from Finlayson in Pine County;
- Kurt Blomgren, a grain and livestock farmer from Butterfield in Watonwan County;
- Lisa Brunner of Mahnomen in Mahnomen County, is a citizen of the White Earth Ojibwe Nation and is recognized as a policy expert on the topic of violence against Native American and Alaska Native women.
- Tim Velde, a farmer at Granite Falls in Yellow Medicine County.
Biel, the chairwoman, and her family operate a 220-cow dairy and 1,400 acres of corn, soybeans, and hay near Harmony.
Biel is Fillmore County Farmers Union president and vice president of the Rural Investment to Protect our Environment board of directors. She is a Fillmore County Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor and a board member of the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources and Center for Rural Policy Development.
Members of the FSA state committee are appointed by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and are responsible for the oversight of farm programs and county committee operations, resolving program delivery appeals, maintaining cooperative relations with industry stakeholders and keeping producers informed about FSA programs.
In January, Whitney Place was named as the executive director for Minnesota.
