New FSA Director

New FSA Director

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has appointed Mark Samson as the new state executive director for the Idaho Farm Service Agency.  Idaho FSA is comprised of 253 employees and producer-elected committee members serving Idaho's farmers and ranchers from the State Office in Boise and a network of 29 county office locations. I called Farm Service Agency's Candy Moore.

 

Samson is an Idaho native who was born in Sandpoint and raised in Pocatello. He received his Bachelor's and Master's degree in agriculture economics from the University of Idaho.

Samson has worked in the wheat industry for the majority of his career, serving in many leadership roles including: assistant director of Western Wheat Associates (now U.S. Wheat Associates) in Washington, D.C., administrator for the Idaho Wheat Commission and vice president for the U.S. Wheat Associates' for South Asia in Singapore and vice president for Europe, the Middle East, East and North Africa in Egypt and the Netherlands.

Early in his career, Samson worked for Morrison Knudsen in Alaska and Saudi Arabia as a project accountant, the Idaho Department of Economic Development and Commerce as the International trade coordinator and at one time owned an international trading and consulting firm.

Samson is familiar with Idaho's agriculture industry; he is the son of a University of Idaho agriculture extension agent and has conducted many programs for the University of Idaho, College of Agriculture.  Samson also has experience working with several agricultural entities and organizations in Idaho including the wheat and barley producers, Idaho Department of Agriculture, Idaho Grain Producers Association and Idaho State Legislature. Mark and his wife, Cory, a native of Lewiston, have two adult children, one residing in Boise and the other in Newport Beach, California.

Previous ReportSaving Pine Forests
Next ReportWhole-Farm Revenue