Foreign Agricultural Service
The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) has primary responsibility for the U.S. 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
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. This responsibility was delegated to the Foreign Agricultural Service Division and marks the beginning of FAS's role in 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 Roosevelt ordered all diplomatic personnel, including the agricultural attaches 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 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 attaches 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.
The Foreign Agricultural Service, a foreign affairs agency since 1930, was included in the Foreign Service Act of 1980. Agricultural attaches 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, 10 former agricultural attaches 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
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-
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