ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS TO ADDRESS NASDA MIDYEAR MEETING

        NASDA members will have the opportunity to meet and hear from administration officials and congressional representatives during their upcoming midyear meeting being held February 19 to 22 in Washington, D.C.

        USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson will address NASDA’s morning general session on February 20 in a joint panel discussion. Vilsack was sworn in as the 30^th Agriculture Secretary on January 21. Jackson was confirmed as EPA Administrator on January 23. They will discuss the Obama Administration’s goals and priorities for agricultural and environmental policy.

        Congressional staff members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees will discuss the legislative and policy outlook on food and agricultural issues in Congress, including implementation of the 2008 Farm Bill. Another featured speaker is Ed Frazier, Chief Operating Officer of RFD-TV, who will discuss rural television activities and how the rural broadcast system impacts agricultural communities.

        Finally, NASDA Members will hear from Mark Walton, President of ViaGen, Inc., a premier animal biotechnology company located in Austin, Texas. He is a successful applied research scientist with over twenty-five years of experience in the plant, livestock and companion animal markets and has first-hand knowledge of the advantages gained through biotechnology. At RiceTec, Dr. Walton led the research program which developed and released the first rice hybrids in North America. Before that, he led Linkage Genetics, the largest agricultural DNA service company in North America and Europe. (Contact: Stephen Haterius)