PA Farm News - Penn State Ag Trustee Receives White House Appointment

Keith W. Eckel (Photo Courtesy of PSU Board of Trustees)

Penn State Ag Trustee Receives White House Appointment
By Chuck Gill, PSU Ag Sciences
UNIVERSITY PARK -- Keith W. Eckel of Clarks Summit, a member of the Penn State board of trustees elected by agricultural societies, has been appointed by President George W. Bush to serve on the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development.

Eckel will serve for the remainder of a four-year term expiring in July and an additional four-year term that will expire in 2012. The seven-member board advises the U.S. Agency for International Development on agricultural priorities and issues. USAID is an independent federal government agency that provides economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide.

"Keith Eckel has been a tireless advocate for Pennsylvania and U.S. agriculture for many years," says Robert Steele, dean of Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. "We at Penn State are proud that one of our friends and trustees -- and one of Pennsylvania's most respected and effective farm leaders -- has been chosen to help guide our nation's international agricultural development programs."

Owner of Fred W. Eckel Sons Farms, which produces tomatoes, sweet corn, corn for grain, pumpkins and wheat, Eckel has been active in agriculture at the local, state and national levels.

He is past president of the Lackawanna County Cooperative Extension Association; a past member of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Land Preservation Board and the Governor's Seasonal Farm Labor Committee; past president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau; founder and past vice president of the Pennsylvania Council of Cooperative Extension Associations; and former board member of the Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association.

Nationally, Eckel is a former member of the board of directors and executive committee of the American Farm Bureau Federation; a former member of the U.S. Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee; charter member of the National Dairy Board; a former member of the U.S. Agricultural Trade Advisory Committee for Fruits and Vegetables and the USDA's Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act Advisory Committee; and vice chairman of the board of directors of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.

He has received numerous honors, including the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award; the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau's Barn Raiser Award; the Honorary County Agent Award from the Pennsylvania Association of County Agricultural Agents; and the Pennsylvania Jaycees Outstanding Young Farmer Award. He was also named "Newsmaker of the Year" by the Scranton Times in 1978.

He was elected to Penn State's board of trustees by delegates from agricultural societies effective July 2001 and was reelected for a succeeding term.

Photo Courtesy of Penn State University Board of Directors

POSTED 080212_1700 ET