Work: Associate General Counsel for the Office of General Counsel at USDA   Educational and Background: Carleton College BA in Political Science in 1982 University of Minnesota Law School, Juris Doctor, 1986     Current Role: Associate General Counsel at the Office of General Counsel at USDA.  I am responsible for providing legal advise to three […]

I’ve always been really interested in general in food systems and the processed food endpoint part and also the growing of food. I became interested in researching the legal aspect of it because of my teaching in Wisconsin.

I grew up on a grain and livestock farm in southern Indiana so farming has always been my thing. It’s where I was at home. When I went to college and majored in agribusiness management, I intended to go to work in ag sales, marketing, management or at least along that line.

I am from Michigan even though I am in Arkansas right now, and I grew up on a small family farm. My family has a truck garden farm, and we’ve gone to our farmers market for several generations.

I practiced for a number of years at Faegre Baker Daniels, which is an ag law practice and moved to Drake almost exactly 5 years ago. Now I am the Associate Director of the Agricultural Law Center at Drake Law School and the Director of Career Development at Drake Law School based in Des Moines.