Bush chooses 5 Mainers for farm advisory panel

PORTLAND – President Bush has appointed five Mainers to an advisory panel to the Maine Farm Service Agency, U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe announced Friday.

Ned Berce of St. Agatha; Marena Lagerstrom of Presque Isle; Nancy Ricker of Turner; David Tuttle of North Berwick; and Walt Whitcomb of Waldo will serve on the five-member panel. Whitcomb will serve as chairman.

As Maine’s senior senator, Snowe, a Republican, recommended the five to Bush.

The Farm Service Agency has the authority to make and guarantee ownership and operating loans, including those covering farm emergencies, through a network of state and county offices. It also administers farm commodity, crop insurance and resource conservation programs.

Whitcomb, a former state representative and House Republican leader, is a dairy farmer and president of Springdale Jerseys, the family farm corporation he operates with his parents.

Berce farms potatoes and is president of Berce Potato Co., a potato seed production farm.

Lagerstrom is a potato farmer and a partner in Lagerstrom Farms, a family potato processing firm.

Ricker is the bookkeeper, office manager and integrated pest management scout for apples, cranberries and retail operations for Ricker Hill Orchards and Apple Ridge Farms.

Tuttle owns and operates Riverside Farm, a dairy and vegetable farm.