Texas Farm Bureau members Dave Edmiston and Don Smith have been appointed to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
They will serve three-year terms.
Edmiston, former TFB state director, is a third generation rancher with a cow-calf, wildlife and hay operation near Brady. He currently serves as co-chairman of the CBB Export Growth Committee and is a board member of the Texas Beef Council and the Beef Promotion and Research Council of Texas.
Smith, also a former TFB state director, has managed his cow-calf and commercial dairy operations for more than 50 years near Sulphur Springs. He is also active in the Northeast Texas Beef Improvement Organization, Lone Star Milk Producers, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and Northeast Texas Farmers Co-op.
“These appointees represent a cross-section of the beef industry and I am confident that beef producers and importers of cattle, beef and beef products will be well served by them,” Vilsack said in a USDA news release.
The 100-member board is authorized by the Beef Promotion and Research Act of 1985. The Secretary selects the appointees nominated by beef, veal, dairy and importers-certified organizations. The board contracts with established national, non-profit, industry-governed organizations to implement programs of promotion, research, consumer information, industry information, foreign marketing and producer communications.