WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 - Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer today announced the appointment of insurance agent Susan C. Rogers and family farmer James C. Nickel to vacancies on the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation's (FCIC) Board of Directors. Each will serve 4-year appointments ending Sept, 5, 2012.

Rogers, of Kingman, Kans., has owned her own crop insurance agency for 15 of her 20 years in the insurance business, and will be filling the insurance industry vacancy on the board. She also shares ownership of a small agricultural business selling farm supplies and providing custom hay and feed cutting.

Nickel, a farming industry appointee from Bakersfield, Calif., is a sixth generation California farmer with a background in agribusiness, project management, and agricultural industry policy.

Also reappointed at this time are FCIC Board members Luis Monterde, of Purvis, Miss., a specialty crops producer, and Mike Pickens, of Little Rock, Ark., an insurance-regulatory appointee. Each of their terms will end Oct 19, 2012.

USDA's Risk Management Agency carries out the programs authorized by the FCIC Board by promoting, supporting, and regulating sound risk management solutions to preserve and strengthen the economic stability of America's agricultural producers.

For more information about the FCIC Board and its actions, see the RMA Web site at http://www.rma.usda.gov/fcic/