United States Department of Agriculture Under Secretary of Farm Production and Conservation Bill Northey (fifth from left), along with members of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency and New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts, visited Silver Lake June 11 to observe progress made on forest management and conservation projects. (Photo Courtesy NMDA)Las Cruces, NM – United States Department of Agriculture Under Secretary of Farm Production and Conservation, Bill Northey, visited New Mexico earlier this week to meet with USDA constituents and employees throughout the state.

The goal of his visit, which lasted from Sunday, June 10 to Monday, June 11 and was hosted by the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, was to improve customer experience by meeting with local producers and program users to identify possible areas of improvement.
 
President Donald Trump nominated Northey as under secretary for the newly named USDA Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) mission area earlier this year. USDA – FPAC oversees the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Risk Management Agency (RMA).
 
Previous to this nomination, Northey served on a soil and water conservation district board for 20 years in the state of Iowa and as Iowa's Secretary of Agriculture from January 2, 2007 to March 5, 2018.
 
Northey's two-day visit to the Land of Enchantment involved a meeting with members of the Mescalero Apache Tribe in Silver Lake, New Mexico on Monday to oversee Environmental Quality Incentives Program projects involving forest thinning and forest management.
 
That same afternoon, the under secretary visited the Bonita Area to observe the devastation left by the 2014 Little Bear Fire. Northey then spoke to producers and conservationists regarding his new position as a USDA undersecretary at the New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts Regional Meeting, which took place at the Ruidoso Convention Center. Northey heard constituent comments and feedback involving the NRCS, FSA and RMA programs and services during the meeting.
 
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