OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma Secretary of Agriculture Jim Reese was elected as President of the Midwestern Association of State Departments of Agriculture (MASDA) at their 2018 annual conference held last week in South Dakota. MASDA is the Midwestern branch of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), and is comprised of the Commissioners, Secretaries, and Directors of Agriculture from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

MASDA represents the Midwestern region of state departments of agriculture by developing and implementing sound public policies and programs to support and promote the regional and national agricultural industry.

Many opportunities recognized and challenges faced by Oklahoma agriculture are also found in other states and MASDA is one way to share these ideas or explore solutions to these issues. This can be beneficial to the ag industry not only at the state and regional level, but also throughout the United States.

Oklahoma will have the honor of hosting the MASDA annual conference June 24-27 in 2019 in Oklahoma.