By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Last week Thomas Dorr, a former USDA undersecretary for rural development, was named the new president and CEO of the U.S. Grains Council (USGC).

The USGC is a nonprofit group of U.S. farmers and agribusinesses. Its purpose is to expand international markets for corn, barley and sorghum. The group has nine international offices that oversee marketing programs in 50 countries and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

“I really am honored by the opportunity being afforded to me by the U.S. Grains Council,” Dorr said in a teleconference last week, publicly accepting the appointment.

The National Corn Growers Assoc. (NCGA) was happy about the news. “We’re excited about this appointment and look forward to working with Tom and his team,” said NCGA President Bob Dickey in a statement issued shortly after the announcement.

“Tom has always been an exceptional professional and strong advocate of American agriculture and will serve as a great leader as the organizations work together on a number of trade opportunities for corn farmers.”

Dorr also served on the board of directors of the seventh district Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Iowa Board of Regents. He was also a senior fellow at the National Center for Food and Agriculture Policy and was as an officer and member of the Iowa Corn Growers Assoc. as well as of the NCGA. Dorr is from Marcus, Iowa.

Dorr said last week he is committed to international trade and will do everything he can to help producers of corn, barley and sorghum market their products around the world.

“Anything that would appear to negatively impact the flow of free and fair trade we would not take lightly,” Dorr said. “World trade is not something that we should back away from.”

The NCGA also praised Dorr as having led programs to expand rural infrastructure during his tenure at the USDA. Those efforts included expansion of electricity generation, broadband Internet access, water services, rural business development and home building.
Not everyone, however, is happy with Dorr. For example, in a letter sent to Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) after Dorr’s nomination to be undersecretary for rural development in 2001, 161 group signatories complained about him. These groups included, for example, the Nebraska Farmers Union and National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC).

“Our opposition to Thomas Dorr as undersecretary of agriculture for rural development is based on his most vocal stances,” the letter states. “(H)is corporate-oriented vision of U.S. agriculture, his resistance to sustainable agriculture and his comments tying rural economic development to lack of ethnic and religious diversity.”
The letter also cited a 1998 article in The New York Times quoting Dorr as advocating 225,000-acre farms that are centrally managed. The letter stated such a development would reduce agriculture to one farm for every 350 square miles.

“This is why family farmers call him the poster boy for corporate agriculture,” the letter said.

Dorr is set to begin his new position Nov. 16.