Foreign Agricultural Service

The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) has primary responsibility for the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) overseas programs -- market development, international trade agreements and negotiations, and the collection of statistics and market information. It also administers USDA's export credit guarantee and food aid programs and helps increase income and food availability in developing nations by mobilizing expertise for agriculturally led economic growth.

Creation

USDA posted its first employee abroad in 1882, with assignment of Edmund J. Moffat to London. Moffat went out as a "statistical agent" of USDA but with the status of Deputy Consul General on the roster of the Department of State at London. Subsequent USDA officials assigned overseas, however, did not enjoy diplomatic or consular status, and this impeded their work. Creation of a series of units in Washington to analyze foreign competition and demand for agricultural commodities was paralleled by assignment abroad of agricultural statistical agents, commodity specialists, and "commissioners". In 1924, USDA officials Nils Olsen and Louis Guy Michael, working with Congressman John Ketcham, began drafting legislation to create an agricultural attaché service with diplomatic status.

The Foreign Agricultural Service was created by the Foreign Agricultural Service Act of 1930 (P.L. 71-304), which President Herbert Hoover signed into law June 5, 1930. Asher Hobson, a noted economist and political scientist, was its first head. The law stipulated that the Foreign Agricultural Service consisted of the overseas officials of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with the Foreign Agricultural Service Division of USDA's Bureau of Agricultural Economics the headquarters staff in Washington, D.C. The overseas officials of USDA, called "agricultural commissioners" and at the time located in London, Buenos Aires, Berlin, and Shanghai, provided timely, unbiased and accurate reports on the commodity situation and outlook, which were disseminated in the U.S. The 1930 Act explicitly granted them diplomatic status and the right to the diplomatic title attaché.

International trade

In 1934 Congress passed the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act, which stipulated that the President must consult with the Secretary of Agriculture when negotiating tariff reductions for agricultural commodities. Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace delegated this responsibility to the Foreign Agricultural Service Division, and this was the beginning of FAS's role in formulation and implementation of international trade policy.

On December 1, 1938, the division was upgraded, made directly subordinate to the Secretary, and renamed simply the Foreign Agricultural Service. On July 1, 1939, however, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered all diplomatic personnel, including the agricultural attachés and commissioners, transferred to the Department of State. The Foreign Agricultural Service was abolished, and its headquarters staff was renamed the Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations (OFAR).

Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations

OFAR began handling food aid in 1941 when President Roosevelt and the Congress authorized $1.35 billion of food assistance to Great Britain. During this period OFAR also led negotiations that led to creation of the International Wheat Council, and began assisting Latin American countries to develop their agriculture. This latter effort was related to the need for strategic commodities as World War II loomed.

During World War II OFAR analyzed food availability in both allied and enemy countries, and promoted stockpiling of 100 million bushels (2.7 million metric tons) of wheat for feeding refugees after the anticipated end of the war. After the war, OFAR was instrumental in carrying out land reform in Japan and offering agricultural technical assistance under the Marshall Plan and the Point IV Program. OFAR also continued food aid programs, particularly using the Agricultural Trade Act of 1949's authorities to donate surplus commodities.

Recreation of FAS

On March 10, 1953, Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson abolished OFAR and recreated the Foreign Agricultural Service. In April 1954 FAS handed off technical assistance to the International Cooperation Administration (forerunner of USAID) and began to focus on foreign market development for U.S. agricultural commodities. On September 1, 1954, following passage of H.R. 8033 (P.L. 83-690), the agricultural attachés were transferred back from State Department to FAS. In the same year, Congress passed Public Law 480, the Food for Peace Act, which became the backbone of FAS's food aid and market development efforts.

In 1955 FAS began signing cooperative agreements with groups representing American producers of specific commodities in order to expand foreign demand. The first such agreement was signed with the National Cotton Council. This activity came to be called the Market Development Cooperator Program, and the groups themselves to be called "cooperators".

In 1961 the General Sales Manager of USDA's Commodity Stabilization Service and his staff were merged into FAS, bringing with them operational responsibility for export credit and food aid programs. In 1969 the General Sales Manager and his staff were split off to form a separate USDA agency, the Export Marketing Service. In 1974, however, EMS was re-merged with FAS.

The Foreign Agricultural Service, a foreign affairs agency since 1930, was included in the Foreign Service Act of 1980. Agricultural attachés were offered the choice of remaining civil servants or being grandfathered into the Foreign Service. Since that time the vast majority of agricultural officers overseas, just like State Department officials overseas, have been Foreign Service Officers. Since 1939, 11 former agricultural attachés had been confirmed as American Ambassadors.

In 1994 USDA's Office of International Cooperation and Development was merged with FAS, bringing technical assistance back to FAS after a roughly 40-year absence.

Heads of service and Ambassadors

Heads of the Foreign Agricultural Service and Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations since 1930 have been:

Asher Hobson, 1930-1931 | Leslie A. Wheeler, 1931-1948 | Dennis A. Fitzgerald, 1948-1949 | Fred J. Rossiter, 1949 | Stanley Andrews, 1949-1952 | Francis A. Flood, 1952 | John J. Haggerty, 1952-1953 | Francis R. Wilcox, 1953 | Romeo Ennis Short, 1953 | Clayton E. Whipple, 1953-1954 | William G. Lodwick, 1954-1955 | Gwynn Garnett, 1955-1958 | Maxwell S. Myers, 1958-1961 | Robert C. Tetro, 1961-1962 | Raymond A. Ioanes, 1962-1973 | David L. Hume, 1973-1977 | Thomas R. Hughes, 1977-1981 | Richard A. Smith, 1981-1985 | Thomas O. Kay, 1985-1989 | Rolland E. Anderson, 1989-1991 | Duane Acker, 1991-1992 | Stephen L. Censky, 1992-1993 | Richard B. Schroeter, 1993-1994 | August Schumacher, Jr., 1994-1997 | Lon S. Hatamiya, 1997-1999 | Timothy J. Galvin, 1999-2001 | Mattie R. Sharpless, 2001 | Mary T. Chambliss, 2001-2002 | A. Ellen Terpstra, 2002-2006 | Michael W. Yost, 2006-2009 | Suzanne K. Hale, 2009 | Michael Michener, 2009-

General Sales Managers since 1955, including those who headed the Export Marketing Service, have been:

Frank C. Daniels, 1955-1961? | Frank LeRoux, 1962?-1966 | George Parks, 1966?-1969? | Clifford Pulvermacher, 1969?-1972 | Laurel Meade, 1972?-1977? | George S. Shanklin, 1974? | Kelly Harrison, 1977-1981 | Alan Tracy, 1981-1982 | Melvin Sims, 1982-1989 | F. Paul Dickerson, 1989-1991 | Christopher E. Goldthwait (acting), 1991-1993 | Christopher E. Goldthwait, 1993-1999 | Richard Fritz, 1999-2001 | Mary T. Chambliss (acting), 2001-2002 | W. Kirk Miller, 2002-2009 | Patricia R. Sheikh (acting), 2009-

Agricultural officers who have served or are serving as ambassadors are:

Lester DeWitt Mallory, Assistant agricultural commissioner at Marseille and Paris, agricultural attaché at Paris and Mexico City, Ambassador to Jordan 1953-58 and Guatemala 1958-59, Assistant Secretary of State | Charles R. Burrows, Assistant agricultural attaché (rank of vice consul) at Buenos Aires, Ambassador to Honduras 1960-65. | Howard R. Cottam, Agricultural economist at Paris, agricultural attaché at Rome, Ambassador to Kuwait 1963-69. | Clarence A. Boonstra, Assistant agricultural attaché at Havana, agricultural attaché at Manila, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Lima, Ambassador to Costa Rica 1967-69 | Philip C. Habib, Vice consul hired as an agricultural officer, assigned to agricultural affairs offices at Ottawa and Wellington, Ambassador to South Korea 1971-74, was later Special Negotiator for the Middle East, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Acting Secretary of State 1977, winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, featured on a postage stamp in 2006 | H. Reiter Webb, Assistant agricultural attaché at London, agricultural attaché at Cairo, Chief Negotiator for Textile Matters with rank of Ambassador 1979-81. Not confirmed by the Senate. | George S. Vest, Vice consul hired as an agricultural officer, assigned to agricultural affairs office at Quito, Ambassador to the European Community 1981-85 and Director General of the Foreign Service | Christopher E. Goldthwait, Assistant agricultural attaché at Bonn, agricultural attaché and counselor at Lagos, Ambassador to Chad 1999-2004 | Mattie R. Sharpless, Administrative assistant at Paris (OECD), assistant agricultural attaché at Brussels USEC, agricultural attaché at Bern, agricultural counselor at Rome, agricultural minister-counselor at Paris, Ambassador to the Central African Republic 2001-2002 | Suzanne K. Hale, Agricultural attaché and agricultural trade officer at Tokyo, agricultural minister-counselor at Beijing and Tokyo, Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia 2004-2007, acting Administrator 2009 | Patricia M. Haslach, Agricultural attaché at New Delhi, Ambassador to Laos 2004-2007 | Asif J. Chaudhry, Agricultural attaché at Warsaw, senior agricultural attaché, counselor, and acting minister-counselor at Moscow, agricultural minister-counselor at Cairo, Ambassador to Moldova 2008-present |

External links

• "Foreign Agricultural Service". Retrieved 2005-11-23.
• "National Archives, Records of the Foreign Agricultural Service". Retrieved 2009-3-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• "Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Oral Histories". Retrieved 2009-3-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help) (use the search engine for a "Descriptive Information" search on agriculture)
• "Foreign Service Journal, May 2003, An Unauthorized History of FAS (PDF)". Retrieved 2009-3-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• "Foreign Service Journal, May 2003, High Stakes, High Hurdles: US Farm Trade Policy (PDF)". Retrieved 2009-3-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• "Foreign Service Journal, May 2003, The Foreign Agricultural Service Today (PDF)". Retrieved 2009-3-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• "AgExporter, March 2003, Helping U.S. Producers Feed, Clothe and House the World (PDF)". Retrieved 2009-3-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
• "Journal of Farm Economics, July 1930, News Items". Retrieved 2009-3-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)