The House Democratic Caucus on December 7 selected Congressman Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota as the chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture for the 110th Congress.
Starting in January 2007, Peterson will lead the committee, which is responsible for reviewing agriculture policy issues in the U.S. House of Representatives.
"I am honored to have this opportunity to serve the great agricultural producers of our country," Peterson said. "There is a lot of work to be done, and I look forward to joining my dedicated colleagues on the Committee to give agriculture producers and all rural Americans a voice in Congress."
One of the major responsibilities that the Agriculture Committee will address in 2007 is the reauthorization of farm programs in the Farm Bill. The Farm Bill authorizes commodity support, agricultural trade, marketing, food assistance, and rural development policies over several years. The current farm bill was written in 2002, and many of the provisions in that bill will expire in September of 2007.
Congressman Peterson represents the seventh district of Minnesota, a primarily rural and agricultural district reaching from the Canadian border almost to the Iowa state line along Minnesota's border with North and South Dakota.
Congressman Peterson grew up on a farm in Baker, Minn. and he now lives in Detroit Lakes, Minn. Before his election to the House of Representatives in 1990, he was a Certified Public Accountant and small business owner in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, and also served for ten years in the Minnesota State Senate.