President Barack Obama appointed Dallas Tonsager to the position last week but the selection was announced today. Tonsager, who was appointed to the FCA board last year, replaces Kenneth Spearman, who has held the job since March 2015.  Tonsager is currently board chairman of Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation. He previously served on the boards of FCA and FCSIC from 2004 to 2009 during the George W. Bush administration.  Tonsager was also the USDA's under secretary for Rural Development during Obama's first term, but resigned that post in early 2013. [node:read-more:link]

Shortly after Republicans’ stunning Election Day sweep, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack grabbed Vice President Biden in a receiving line.  Vilsack had an urgent message, and he sensed that in Biden, he would find a receptive audience. The two politicians had served together throughout President Obama’s eight years in office and had known each other for decades. [node:read-more:link]

U.S. chicken producers including Tyson Foods Inc. and Sanderson Farms Inc. are being asked by the Georgia Department of Agriculture to meet new requirements for a price index as the agency makes changes amid concerns about the reliability of the benchmark.  The department is asking the companies and their representatives to submit affidavits and attestations declaring the price data they supply for the weekly so-called Georgia Dock index is accurate. The documents are due Tuesday, agency spokeswoman Julie McPeake said Monday. [node:read-more:link]

Georgia’s equine industry is anything but a pony show — it has a $2.5 billion annual impact on the state’s economy, according to the Georgia Agricultural Commodity Commission for Equine.  Further, horses are the No. 9 commodity in the state with a value of more than $333 million, or about $279.8 million more than those famous Georgia peaches. That’s according to the 2014 Farm Gate Value Reports from the University of Georgia. [node:read-more:link]

The number of parents permanently losing their rights to a child has grown significantly in Tennessee, a Tennessean analysis found.  Between 2010 and 2014 (the most recent year data is available), there was a 51 percent increase in the number of parents who have had their relationship legally and permanently severed from a child.  In the same time period, the number of children in Tennessee waiting to be adopted increased by 56 percent. [node:read-more:link]

Maryland's horse industry hasn't recovered fully from years of decline but has regained its footing and is generating more than $1 billion a year — 23 percent more than in 2010, a study released Monday found.  The study, conducted by the Sage Policy Group, said the industry's nascent rebound appears to be accelerating.  "The last five years have represented a stark contrast from the prior three decades when Maryland's horse industry was in decline," said the study, paid for by the Maryland Horse Breeders Association and a dozen other industry partners.  The study, released at Goucher Colleg [node:read-more:link]

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has announced more than 35 premises in Alberta and Saskatchewan are under investigation and movement controls in connection to a bovine tuberculosis case from late September.  CFIA stated that, as of Nov. 23, there have been six confirmed cases of bovine TB, including the original cow from Alberta that was confirmed with the disease by USDA when the cow was slaughtered in the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

Higher prescription drug prices, combined with changes to Medicare and Social Security, could deal a $1.6 billion blow to state budgets next year by forcing them to ratchet up spending on Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor.  Without congressional intervention, most state Medicaid agencies will have to come up with tens of millions of dollars to cover the bill.  The new costs could prompt states to tighten eligibility requirements or cut benefits. [node:read-more:link]

Salting roads and pavements during winter damages frog populations by turning would-be females into males, a major new study warns.  Naturally occurring chemicals used in de-icing substances find their way into ponds, where the amphibians breed, and change the sex of young frogs during early development. Experts at Yale University found that gritting can reduce the number of female frogs by 10 per cent in a given area, as well as harming the quality of their eggs and size of their offspring. [node:read-more:link]