No American Has Led FAO Since 1956 — Farm Groups Say That Should End

No American has led the Food and Agriculture Organization since 1956 — a gap of more than 70 years — and nearly 100 U.S. farm and agribusiness groups now want Beth Bechdol to close it.

Bechdol, the FAO's deputy director-general for the past six years, is the highest-ranking American in the organization's senior management. Gregg Doud of the National Milk Producers Federation and Andy LaVigne of the American Seed Trade Association made the case for her candidacy in a joint opinion published this week, arguing that FAO leadership is a strategic interest for American agriculture.

Why does a Rome election matter on U.S. farms?

Most farmers will never set foot in Rome, the two authors concede. But FAO decisions show up on American farms anyway. The organization shapes international standards that govern plant health requirements for seed shipments and food safety rules affecting dairy and meat exports. Its technical guidance also steers international approaches to biotechnology, gene editing and crop protection — areas where European regulatory approaches frequently diverge from American practice and sometimes create barriers for U.S. producers and exporters.

FAO's next director-general will be elected by member countries next July. European candidates from Ireland, Italy and Spain are competing, alongside contenders from Turkey and Angola. Governments are already mobilizing around preferred candidates.

Who is Beth Bechdol?

Bechdol was raised on her family's seven-generation grain farm in Indiana. She began her career on the Senate Agriculture Committee, served as chief of staff at USDA and helped lead the Indiana Department of Agriculture. She later headed AgriNovus Indiana, building partnerships among agriculture, technology and business.

Her six years as deputy director-general have given her a firsthand understanding of how FAO sets priorities, works with member governments and turns technical recommendations into action, the authors write. Most importantly, they argue, she knows where reform is needed and how to get things done inside a complex international organization.

She has also spent that time building relationships with governments across every region — which matters mechanically in an FAO election, where every country casts one vote by secret ballot.

What has American agriculture done so far?

The industry has already declared its position:

• Nearly 100 farm and agribusiness organizations, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Farmers Union, National Milk Producers Federation and American Seed Trade Association, have written to President Trump supporting Bechdol's candidacy.
• In a Sept. 30 letter, 22 members of Congress — including Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman and House Agriculture Committee Chairman GT Thompson — urged the administration to nominate and actively support her, calling the candidacy a "historic opportunity to restore American leadership at FAO."
• The United States helped create FAO in 1945 and remains its largest single contributor to the regular budget.

The decision to nominate rests with the administration, and winning would require its full diplomatic support. Doud and LaVigne stress that this cannot be a government effort alone: American agricultural organizations hold relationships with producers, companies, trade associations and leaders worldwide, and must be prepared to deploy them if Bechdol is nominated.

Should the United States fail to put forward a candidate, the authors write, it would cede an opportunity to influence an institution whose work directly affects U.S. agricultural competitiveness — at a moment when FAO's scientific priorities and international standards will shape market access for years to come.