Biden names farm agency state director
Arkansas native a UA grad, longtime USDA employee
President Joe Biden has named Doris Washington as the Farm Service Agency state executive director for Arkansas, where she will oversee the implementation of agricultural policy in the Natural State.
Washington, a U.S. Army National Guard veteran and a two-time graduate of the University of Arkansas, has worked as the director of the National Water Management Center at the Natural Resources Conservation Service, where she oversaw a $2.2 million budget and directed operations, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The center also implemented an analysis of watershed environmental projects under her guidance, the USDA said.
Washington, 55, is one of many USDA appointees announced by Biden this month. Other appointees include Farm Service Agency state executive directors for Illinois, Maine, Texas, Kentucky, Missouri and Nebraska.
The White House described Washington, a Harrisburg native, as an expert in “crops and natural resources science” and said she has served as the acting deputy chief for management and strategy for the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
She also served as acting state conservationist and national team leader for administrative transformation for the conservation service, according to the White House.
Washington has more than a decade of service with the Arkansas Army National Guard as an officer, the Biden administration said.
The Farm Service Agency administers credit and loan programs, carries out agricultural policy and manages conservation and farm marketing programs nationwide.
In a news release earlier this month on Washington’s appointment and others, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the appointees will play an important role in the mission of improving the lives of Americans.
“Each of them will add to the experienced, dedicated and growing team at the department,” he said in the release.
Washington holds a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and has received a master of
public administration in public policy, according to the USDA.
Washington has a long history with the federal department.
At the conclusion of her first year in college, Washington’s high school principal reached out to inquire if she would be interested in a student internship at a local USDA office, Washington told the Democrat-Gazette previously. Washington accepted the opportunity, she said.
Attempts by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette to reach Washington for this article were unsuccessful.
Rhonda O’Guinn with the USDA said in an email Wednesday that Washington had not officially started in the role of state executive director.
“We have been instructed to cease any amplification of this announcement until the [state executive directors] have been officially sworn in and are officially on board. I am not sure of her start date,” O’Guinn said in the email.
There are still appointments in Arkansas that have yet to be made by the Biden administration. The president has yet to name his U.S. attorney nominees for the Eastern District of Arkansas and the Western District of Arkansas.
U.S. attorneys serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in their districts, and they lead offices that prosecute federal crimes in their designated areas.