Sources say Agriculture deputy to leave USDA for farm group

The National Conference of Farmer Cooperatives has selected Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner as its next CEO, several sources within the co-op movement said Monday. NCFC Chairman Bill Davisson, CEO of GROWMARK, a Bloomington, Ill.,-based co-op, confirmed that a search committee had selected a candidate but declined to name that person.

Separately, an executive with a member co-op said that co-op leaders had received an e-mail that declined to name the pick but said that the announcement would not be formalized until Jan. 2. Through a USDA spokesman, Conner said that any speculation on his next job "would be very premature." Conner, an Indianan, was staff director of the Senate Agriculture Committee when Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., headed that panel. Conner was CEO of the Corn Refiners Association before joining the Bush White House as an agriculture aide. He was named deputy Agriculture secretary in Bush's second term.

The NCFC is composed of regional and national farmer cooperatives, which in turn comprise nearly 3,000 local farmer cooperatives across the country. NCFC's last CEO, Jean-Mari Peltier, left in August to lead the newly formed National Grape and Wine Initiative in California.