Changing of the cattle guard
State’s agriculture secretary heads out a little early.
Jim Reese, Gov. Mary Fallin's agriculture secretary the past eight years, stepped out of that role Dec. 31. In a resignation letter he submitted to Fallin on Friday, Reese wrote he was leaving with a sense of accomplishment. "We have had really good times and really challenging times," Reese wrote. "With the help of the great citizens of this state, Oklahoma is better because of your service. "Your personal investment in business recruitment will be one of many defining efforts of your administration. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve." As agriculture secretary, Reese concurrently oversaw the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry as Oklahoma's commissioner of agriculture. Reese's letter noted both he and Fallin set numerous goals eight years ago to strengthen Oklahoma's agriculture industry by boosting its processing, manufacturing and exports of food products, by better educating Oklahoma's food consumers and by improving its environment. In his letter, he provided numerous examples in ways those goals were met, including: • Increasing the number of Made in Oklahoma coalition members and their sales figures. • Growing numbers of farmers markets and the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program dollars at those markets. • Creating a Significant Women in Agriculture program, which has recognized women from all 77 counties of the state who uniquely impact the industry. • Removing 64 streams from the Environmental Protection Agency's list of impaired water sources the past eight years. • Reaching an agreement with Arkansas that he stated he believes will continue to
improve the Illinois River's quality.
Reese also reported that revenues from the Commissioners of the Land Office to Oklahoma schools were markedly up the past eight years and that numbers of horse shows and youth participation levels at agricultural shows and events also were up.
Reese wrote to Fallin that those accomplishments and others were all the more remarkable because they were achieved while the agency's size and budget were trimmed by sharing resources with other state agencies and
by digitizing many of its licensing and inspection operations.
His letter also acknowledged challenges that Fallin, he and the agency had to contend with the past eight years, including exceptional droughts, wildfires and other extreme weather events.
But Reese wrote the agency and its staff had learned from each, improving services the state's agricultural industry can expect when those happen in the future.
Reese, who owns a farming enterprise at Nardin, served in Oklahoma's House of Representatives from 1987 to 2001.
He retired from the Legislature when he was selected by then-President George W. Bush to serve as the executive director of Oklahoma's Farm Service Agency under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a post he held for eight years.
On Dec. 31, he informed the agriculture department's division directors he had designated Bryan Painter, communications and administrative director, to serve as its acting lead administrator until a new agriculture secretary is in place.
Governor-elect Kevin Stitt has nominated Blayne Arthur, a Stillwater cattle rancher who also is the executive director of the Oklahoma 4-H Foundation, to serve in that role. If confirmed, Arthur will be the first woman to hold the post.