September 26, 2008
Contact:
Lisa Taylor
Director of Communications
Kansas Department of Agriculture
(785) 296-2653
ltaylor@kda.state.ks.us
Polansky elected to NASDA leadership post
TOPEKA - Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Adrian Polansky was elected secretary-treasurer of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture at the group's annual meeting in Bismarck, North Dakota, this week.
"I am honored that my peers elected me, and I look forward to serving throughout the coming year," Polansky said.
The secretary-treasurer office is the first step in the ascension to president of the national organization. The last Kansan to lead the organization was Secretary of Agriculture Roy Freeland, who served as NASDA president in 1954.
Polansky already serves as chairman of the association's biotechnology task force, a subgroup of the animal and plant health industries committee; as a member of the food and agricultural security committee; the marketing and international trade committee; the food regulation and nutrition committee; the natural resources and pesticide management committee; the U.S.-Canada working group; and the rural development and financial security committee.
The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture is made of up the secretaries, directors and commissioners of agricultures in the 50 states and four U.S. territories. Its mission is to represent the state departments of agriculture in the development, implementation and communication of sound public policy and programs that support and promote American agriculture while protecting consumers and the environment.