President Biden last month nominated Elaine Trevino to be the Chief Agricultural Negotiator at the Office of the Unites States Trade Representative (USTR). Trevino is currently the President of the Almond Alliance of California, where she helps advocate on regulatory and legislative issues in areas of international trade, food safety, water quality and availability, crop protection, air quality, worker safety, supply chain, and feed quality.
Previously, Trevino served as Deputy Secretary at the California Department of Food and Agriculture for Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gray Davis. In this capacity, she had responsibility for the oversight of the international export and trade programs, specialty crop block grant funding, division of marketing services, plant health and pest prevention, and the statewide county fair network. Trevino was appointed by former Secretary Sonny Perdue to serve on USDA’s Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee (APAC).
“America’s potato growers welcome Ms. Trevino’s nomination and look forward to working with her to ensure improved and expanded market access for U.S. food and agriculture,” said NPC VP of Trade Affairs Jared Balcom, a Washington state potato grower. “With one out of every six rows of U.S. potatoes destined for foreign consumers, we appreciate her background as an advocate for opening international markets for products grown and produced by U.S. farmers and workers.”