New Director Brings Broad Expertise

College Park, MD – The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program is pleased to announce the appointment of Rob Hedberg as its new director. Hedberg has served as interim director of the program since January 2009, and brings a wealth of personal, professional and educational experience in agriculture to the job.

Since 2005, Hedberg has worked at USDA-NIFA (National Institute of Food and Agriculture) focusing on science policy, legislative and inter-governmental affairs. In these roles, he worked closely with Congress and other federal agencies on issues related to agricultural science and led USDA's participation in negotiations on the Research Title of the 2008 Farm Bill. Prior to working at USDA, Hedberg served in the policy arena for Congress and scientific organizations. He served on the staff of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow and as Director of Science Policy for the National and Regional Weed Science Societies. Hedberg gained practical public and private sector field experience in a variety of leadership roles in agricultural business, research and education, including owning and operating a crop consulting and research firm and serving as a regional agronomy agent for the University of Vermont.

After growing up on a small farm in Michigan, Hedberg pursued degrees in agriculture, first receiving a Bachelor's degree in Crop and Soil Science from Michigan State University. He then went on to complete a Master's degree in Plant Science from the University of New Hampshire and a Graduate Certificate program in Management and Administration at Harvard University.

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