President Obama's selection of Kathleen Merrigan to be Deputy Secretary of Agriculture has drawn rave reviews from both sustainable agriculture and food-safety advocates.  Jordan Lite, writing at Scientific American's 60-Second Blog, focuses on Merrigan's background.  She is currently director of the agriculture, food and environment program at Tufts University.

While a staffer on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, she helped develop the current national standards for organic foods.  The law also established a federal program to accredit those standards and she moved over to serve as administrator of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), which oversees the agency's organic program.

Jean Halloran, the director of food policy initiatives at Consumers Union, which publishes the Consumer Reports magazine, released a statement saying, "Merrigan will bring an excellent perspective to a number of troublesome labeling issues now before the agency."

Merrigan has also worked at the Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture and served as a consultant for the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.  Reuters has an article on Merrigan's selection that quotes Ferd Hoefner of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.  He says, "Sustainable and organic farmers are excited ... that someone who has been associated with these issues her whole career is going to be at that level in the department."

Senator Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said Merrigan "has demonstrated a commitment to the needs of agriculture and rural communities, promoting sound conservation and the benefits of healthy foods and good nutrition".

The DailyKos self-proclaimed USDA monitor, OrangeClouds115, is delighted with this selection and sums up, saying, "She's AMAZING".  He also has her full bio online.