RELEASE: COCHRAN WELCOMES KEENUM REPRESENTATION ON USDA FOUNDATION
MSU President to Serve on Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today welcomed the appointment of Mississippi State University President Mark Keenum to an organization created in the 2014 farm bill to advance American agriculture research in an era of federal budget constraints.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced that Keenum will serve on the 15-member Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR) board of directors. Congress authorized the FFAR in the 2014 farm bill, recognizing the need to identify and develop new sources of revenue to support investments in U.S. agriculture research.
“Dr. Mark Keenum will bring a breadth of knowledge and experience to this organization, which is challenged with forging stronger research partnerships to advance agriculture for Americans and the world,” Cochran said. “I am pleased that with Mark’s service, Mississippi’s agriculture know-how will be well represented on the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research.”
Cochran noted that Keenum’s knowledge of the federal legislative and executive branches of government, along with his background in university-based research and agriculture issues in Mississippi, would benefit the FFAR in promoting new partnerships among the agriculture research community, including USDA, nonprofit organizations, academia, corporations, industry and other entities.
The USDA announcement on the naming of the FFAR board of directors is available here: http://1.usa.gov/1jVyO2m
7/23/14
Magnolia Tribune
