20. Kathleen Merrigan, former deputy secretary of USDA

Sustainable Agriculture Policy with Ron Kroese

Kathleen Merrigan authored the law establishing standards for organic food and the federal definition of sustainable agriculture.

On this week’s episode, she talks with Ron about her life’s work, including her time in USDA, where she led the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative to support local food systems, and was a key architect of Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign.

In 2010, Kathleen was celebrated by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2010.

Currently, she serves as the Kelly and Brian Swette Professor in the School of Sustainability and executive director of the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University. Before that, she was the Executive Director of Sustainability at the George Washington University.

From 2009 to 2013, Kathleen was deputy secretary and COO of the United States Department of Agriculture. And, was the first woman to chair the Ministerial Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Prior to USDA, she was a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Administrator of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, and served on the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

Kathleen is a board member of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, and a Trustee of CIFOR and ICRAF. She is a partner in Astanor Ventures and an advisor to S2G Ventures, two firms investing in ag-tech innovation. Merrigan holds a PhD in Public Policy and Environmental Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MPA from University of Texas at Austin, and BA from Williams College.

The interview was conducted on Feb. 10, 2016.

Additional links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
U.S. Department of Agriculture

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