Bruce Knight was selected as chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Before joining USDA, from 1996 until he began serving as chief of NRCS in May 2002, Knight was vice president for public policy with the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), based in its Washington, DC office. NCGA is a producer-directed trade association representing U.S. corn growers.

Knight worked as a legislative assistant for [then] U.S. Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) from 1995-96, where he focused on development of the conservation title of the 1996 Farm Bill. He was director of governmental affairs with the National Association of Wheat Growers, in its Washington, DC office, from 1989-95. From 1987-88 he was a legislative assistant to [then] U.S. Rep. Fred Grandy (R-Iowa), after having been a legislative assistant to [then] U.S. Sen. James Abdnor (R-S.D.) during 1985, working on the 1985 Farm Bill.

Since 1976 Knight has been a farmer and rancher in Gann Valley, S.D., running a diversified grain and cattle operation using no- till and rest rotation grazing systems. That farm is near the family farm in Gann Valley on which he was raised. He attended South Dakota State University, where he studied agriculture.

Pearlie Reed, the previous chief of NRCS, served in that position from March 1998 until May 2002 and is now the regional conservationist for NRCS’s West Region, which is based in Davis, Calif. •