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One task of the committee will be to develop an environmental strategy for managing waste from livestock operations. Click here to listen to audio commentary about the committee from Jon Scholl, EPA’s counselor for the administrator for agricultural policy.

Washington – Ohio Farm Bureau member Gary Cooper, of Oakwood, has been named to the U.S. EPA’s first-ever agricultural advisory committee as part of EPA’s continuing efforts to strengthen relations with the agriculture community. Cooper is joined by 29 other members from across the United States on what is officially known as the Farm, Ranch and Rural Communities Advisory Committee.

The committee will advise the administrator on environmental policy issues impacting farms, ranches, and rural communities, and will operate under the rules of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The first meeting of the committee will take place March 13 and 14, in Washington, D.C.

"I am honored and pleased to provide leadership to this positive breakthrough in relations between the EPA and the agriculture community," said Committee Chairman James R. Moseley, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. "I look forward to helping the committee provide EPA with solutions that benefit agriculture, the environment, and the economy."

Initially, EPA will ask the committee to focus on the following three issues:

• How EPA's policies and regulations on climate change and renewable energy will affect the agriculture community. The agricultural industry -- through the development of renewable energy sources -- can play a significant role in the nation's ability to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and its dependence on oil imports.

• An environmental strategy for managing waste from livestock operations that considers regulatory and voluntary approaches, and provides tools for producers to attain superior environmental performance.

• Development of a constructive approach to advancing sustainable agriculture, protecting the environment, and addressing communication between environmental and agricultural interests.

Members were selected from a pool of more than 200 applicants generated from a request for nominations published Nov. 15 in the Federal Register. The new members represent: large and small farmers, ranchers, and rural communities; rural suppliers, marketers, and processors; academics and researchers who study environmental issues impacting agriculture; and, environmental and conservation groups.

The committee is being developed as part of a comprehensive National Agriculture Strategy adopted by the administrator in May of 2006. That strategy seeks to engage agriculture in cooperative, collaborative, and innovative ways, in addition to the traditional regulatory programs the agency administers.

For additional information about the committee and biographies of all newly appointed members, visit the EPA Web site at epa.gov/agriculture/frrcc.