— Editor's Roundup —
USDA people in the news

A.J. Yates was named as the administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service.

Before joining USDA, from May 2000 until his recent appointment Yates worked as a senior marketing consultant and agricultural specialist based in Fresno, Calif., with Panagraph Marketing Solutions, an agricultural marketing firm. He served as under secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, based in Sacramento, from 1996-2000, after having served as its deputy secretary from 1991-96. In those positions he managed a number of CDFA divisions, including Animal Health, Food Safety Services, Inspection Services, Marketing Services, Plant Health, Natural Resources and Environmental Planning, and Pest Prevention Services.

Yates served as president of the Fresno County Farm Bureau from 1989-90 and was state director of the California Sugar Beet Growers Association for six years in the 1980s. He has been active in farming since graduating from college, and most recently farmed almonds in Kerman, Calif.

Yates is a native of Gorman, Texas and grew up on a farm in Kerman, Calif. He holds a B.S. degree in agronomy from California State University in Fresno.

Kathleen Merrigan, the previous administrator of AMS, held that position from June 1999 until January 2001 and is now a professor at the Tufts University School of Nutrition in Boston, where she directs a graduate program in agriculture, food and the environment. •