New USW President

On July 1, 2017, Vince Peterson became the fourth President of U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) since the organization was formed in 1980 by the merger of Great Plains Wheat and Western Wheat Associates. Peterson replaced Alan Tracy who retired as President after 20 years. Tracy will serve as a Senior Advisor with USW for the foreseeable future.

The USW President serves at the pleasure of the U.S. wheat farmers on its Board of Directors and is responsible for implementing board-directed policies and for managing staff, export market development programs and finances. The USW directors unanimously selected Peterson as the next President in November 2016.

彼得森说：“当我担任总统任期时，我对美国小麦出口的长期机会感到非常乐观。”彼得森说，他在USW工作了32年，最近担任海外业务副总裁。“我们代表的农民产生了满足全球快速增长的需求所需的多样性和质量。在艾伦（Alan）的领导下，在我们的农民领导者和小麦委员会成员的惊人支持下，我们建立了出口销售和才华横溢的员工的强大基础，这些员工已经做好了充分的准备，并在战略上充分利用了这一机会。”

Looking back, Tracy said adjusting to the shift from government to mainly private importing was one of the big changes since he joined USW in 1997.

特雷西说：“我为我们能够将继续提供贸易和技术服务的世界各地的Vince带到Vince感到自豪。“我也很高兴我们能够在占领澳大利亚贸易的澳大利亚小麦垄断中发挥作用，并看到加拿大政府为其小麦行业选择开放市场。”

Trade policies will have an increasing influence on global wheat trade, Tracy noted. He cites the significant market distortion from excessive domestic subsidies and other policies by China, India and other developing countries that are cutting into U.S. wheat farm income.

“USW helped blow the whistle on these policies and the U.S. government is now pursuing disputes cases against China at the World Trade Organization,” he said. “Enforcement of existing trade agreement rules is vital in today’s trade environment and will grow even more important in the future.”

USW’s mission is to “develop, maintain, and expand international markets to enhance the profitability of U.S. wheat producers and their customers.” Its activities are made possible by producer checkoff dollars managed by 18 state wheat commissions and through USDA Foreign Agricultural Service cost-share funding. For more information, visitwww.uswheat.orgor contact your state wheat commission.