News

Vetter confirmed as Ag Negotiator

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Darci Vetter as Chief Agricultural Negotiator for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The former Deputy Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services told the confirmation hearing the USTR and Congress need to work together in areas such as market access for U.S. dairy in Japan and Canada as well as solving the Geographic Indicators dispute with the European Union.

The confirmation is drawing praise from a number of ag groups including the American Farm Bureau, American Soybean Association and the International Dairy Foods Association.

Her USDA bio follows:

Before joining USDA, she served as an International Trade Advisor on the Democratic Staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, where she advised Chairman Max Baucus and other Committee members on trade issues relating to agriculture, the environment and labor, including the 2008 Farm Bill and pending legislation on climate change. Prior to her work on the Finance Committee, Darci spent six years at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), most recently as Director for Agricultural Affairs. At USTR, Darci was responsible for facilitating NAFTA implementation and resolving agricultural trade issues with Canada and Mexico, as well as participating in the WTO Doha Round negotiations. Darci also served as the Director for Sustainable Development in USTR’s environment office, where she negotiated the environmental provisions of the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement and negotiated trade provisions in U.N. environmental treaties, including the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Darci received her Master of Public Affairs degree and a Certificate in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton, and her undergraduate degree from Drake University in Des Moines. She grew up in Nebraska on a family farm