The Biden administration appointed Gloria Montano Greene and Zach Ducheneaux as top officials overseeing the USDA’s farm subsidy and land stewardship programs, effective Monday. Montano Greene was named deputy undersecretary for farm production and conservation and Ducheneaux was named administrator of the Farm Service Agency, which oversees the farm program with offices in nearly every rural county.
“With their leadership of USDA farm and conservation programs, we will create new market opportunities and streams of income for farmers, ranchers and producers that address climate change and environmental challenges, strengthen local and regional food systems, and lead the world in food, fiber and feed production for export,” said USDA chief of staff Katharine Ferguson on Friday.
Montano Greene, a former FSA state director in Arizona, was deputy director of Chispa Arizona, a League of Conservation Voters project focused on empowerment of Latino voices in Arizona on issues including land and energy. Ducheneaux was executive director of the Intertribal Agriculture Council, the largest Native American agriculture group in the country, serving 80,000 Native American producers.