At the invitation of Dean Nance and the National Agricultural Law Center, United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns plans to visit the University of Arkansas School of Law on Thursday, April 12, 2007. This is a very significant event for the law school as it highlights the prominence of the law school's extensive efforts in agricultural and food law through the National Agricultural Law Center, the Graduate Program in Agricultural Law, and the recently inaugurated Journal of Food Law & Policy. The Secretary's visit also coincides with the National Agricultural Law Center's twentieth anniversary.
The Secretary's visit provides a unique opportunity for the law school's agricultural law community to continue to build on its interdisciplinary development efforts with others in the University community, including the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and its well-recognized Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Department.
In December of 2006, Doug O'Brien and Harrison Pittman, then Co-Directors of the Center, along with Dean Cyndi Nance, met with Secretary Johanns in Washington, D.C. A primary purpose of that meeting was to discuss the law school's efforts in agricultural law, particularly through the Center, the Graduate Program, and the Journal of Food Law & Policy. At that meeting, Secretary Johanns was invited to visit the law school, tour its facilities, meet the law school community, and visit with students enrolled in the Graduate Program in Agricultural Law.
Special thanks is owed to Michael Roberts, Director of the Center from 2003-2006, and Nancy Bryson, the immediate former USDA General Counsel and current head of the Agriculture and Food Practice for the Venable Law Firm in Washington, D.C., for their assistance with this matter.
Additional details of the Secretary's visit will be shared in coming days. In the meantime, any urgent questions regarding this matter should be directed to Harrison Pittman at the National Agricultural Law Center. He can be reached at 575-7640 or by e-mail at hmpittm@uark.edu. Biographical information regarding Secretary Johanns is set out below.
Mike Johanns was sworn in as the 28th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture on January 21, 2005. His strong agricultural roots stretch back to his childhood. He was born in Iowa and grew up doing chores on his family's dairy farm. As the son of a dairy farmer, he developed a deep respect for the land and the people who work it. He still describes himself as "a farmer's son with an intense passion for agriculture."
That passion showed during Johanns' tenure as Nebraska's 38th governor. During his six years in office, Johanns was a strong advocate for rural communities and farmers and ranchers. He enacted a Value-Added Agriculture Initiative, signed into law the "Agricultural Opportunities and Value-Added Partnership Act," supported the development of a hydroponic produce facility, and signed legislation that focused financial resources on providing transferable, non-refundable gas tax credits for the production of ethanol. He also led eight delegations of Nebraska government, business, and agriculture leaders on trade missions to foreign countries including Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Australia, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Brazil and Chile.Johanns served as chairman of the Governors' Biotechnology Partnership and as the state government representative on the advisory committee to the Export-Import Bank of the United States. As a member of both the National Governors' Association and the Western Governors' Association, Johanns concentrated on issues important to agriculture, including drought relief, ethanol, and the 2002 Farm Bill.
Secretary Johanns is a graduate of St. Mary's University of Minnesota in Winona. He earned a law degree from Creighton University in Omaha and practiced law in O'Neill and Lincoln, Nebraska. Johanns served on the Lancaster County Board from 1983-1987, and on the Lincoln City Council 1989-1991. He was elected mayor of Lincoln in 1991. He was reelected in 1995, and successfully ran for governor three years later.
Secretary Johanns is married to Stephanie Johanns, a former Lancaster County Commissioner and State Senator. The couple has two children.