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USDA'S Collins to retire in January

USDA Chief Economist Keith Collins, who's served the last four secretaries of agriculture from both parties, will retire Jan. 3. Collins, 60, has been with USDA for 30 years, taking on some of the most difficult issues to confront the department. He not only chaired a commission created by Congress that looked at the impact of payment limitations but also has been chairman of the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. board of directors.

A Connecticut native, he received Presidential Rank Awards for Meritorious Executive in 1990 and 1996 and for Distinguished Executive in 1992, the highest award a federal executive can receive.

It's expected when a top political appointee leaves, but it may be unprecedented for so many political and farm leaders to praise a USDA civil servant on his retirement. Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman all issued spontaneous statements saying that Collins was a first-rate advisor.

Deputy Chief Economist Joseph Glauber, now detailed to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative as special agricultural envoy for the Doha Round trade negotiations, will return to USDA as acting chief economist in mid-December while keeping his role as trade negotiator. He's been Collins's deputy since 1992.

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