|
|
Messages From The President
Video and transcripts of recent remarks.
|
|
Appointee Directory
Get bios and photos of appointees online.
|
|
Department Links
Links to departments and cabinet level offices.
|
|
|
|
| Richard Crowder -- Office of the United States Trade Representative |
| Chief Agricultural Negotiator |
As USTR Chief Agricultural Negotiator, Richard T. Crowder is responsible for directing all U.S. agricultural trade negotiations anywhere in the world. This includes multi-lateral negotiations in the World Trade Organization, as well as regional and bilateral negotiations.
Ambassador Crowder was nominated for this position by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2005. He was sworn in by U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman on January 5, 2006.
Trade is critical to U.S. agriculture because the produce from one of every three acres grown in the U.S. is exported.
Ambassador Crowder has more than 30 years experience in the food, agriculture, and international trade industries.
Before joining USTR, he was president and CEO of the American Seed Trade Association in Alexandria, Va., since 2002. Prior to that, he worked as an independent consultant. From 1994-1999 he was Senior Vice President, International, of DEKALB Genetics Corporation (now part of Monsanto), a worldwide leader in agricultural genetics and seed biotechnology. In this role he managed all of DEKALB's business outside of the United States involving more than 30 countries.
Before joining DEKALB in 1994, he was Executive Vice President and General Manager, International of meat processor Armour Swift-Eckrich, a division of ConAgra. From 1975-89, he worked at the Pillsbury Company in a series of increasingly responsible senior executive positions.
He served as Under Secretary of International Affairs & Commodity Programs for the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1989-1992. In this role, he was responsible for all agencies concerned with international trade and development as well as domestic farm programs. He also played leadership roles in negotiating agriculture in the Uruguay Round of the GATT and in managing the 1990 Farm Bill process.
Ambassador Crowder, who grew up on a farm in Virginia, earned a B.S. and M.S. from Virginia Tech and a Ph.D. from Oklahoma State University. |
202-395-6127 |
|
|
|
|