WASHINGTON - The Obama Administration in October announced that John McCauley, a popular figure in the pest management industry, will serve as Kentucky State Executive Director for the Farm Service Agency at the USDA.

"John McCauley has a solid understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing our rural communities and will help build on the Obama Administration’s efforts to rebuild and revitalize rural America," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

"I’m looking forward to working in the Obama administration," McCauley told PCT. "It gives me a chance to sink my teeth back into the agricultural side. I’m excited about it."

In 2003, McCauley was hired to serve as BASF Pest Control Solutions’ government relations representative. Additionally, he served as director of the Division of Pesticide Regulation in the Kentucky Department of Agriculture in the 1990s and served on the Governor’s Commission on Literacy five years before that. He also has worked in the Kentucky Labor Cabinet and Kentucky General Assembly.

USDA’s Farm Services Agency works to increase economic opportunity and improve the quality of life for rural Americans. Some of the agency’s efforts include facilitating income support, disaster assistance and conservation programs, providing operating loans for the procurement of farm equipment, seed and fertilizer, as well as offering ownership loans to help new and veteran producers purchase a farm. FSA also works to procure various commodities to benefit low-income families through domestic food assistance programs.