07/16/07 Its temporary and that's fine with him

Brent Mendenhall has stepped in as acting state director for the USDA's Farm Service Agency. It's a job that he's not going to keep for very long but one he's taking on until a permanent replacement for Wayne Hammon is named by President Bush. MENDENHALL "They are doing a search now. There are several interested people. This is a very interesting position; a lot of things are going on. So I'm here interim taking care of things making sure things are ready for the person who will be here permanent." Mendenhall has not applied for the fulltime position. Two weeks into the new job, he's not sure how long or short the assignment will be. MENDENHALL "There is drought going on, there are wildfires, there's hail, so we have some of those disaster programs coming through and I just keep the ship moving. I make sure we don't miss a beat. We'll start doing some preparatory work for the farm bill as we hear details there. Any input they need from a state collaboration they need with state leaders as long as I'm here that's my role." Mendenhall has nearly 30 years service with the Farm Service Agency and when this temporary assignment is over he's headed back to Rexburg where he's a District Director for a ten county eastern Idaho region. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott