BOISE — When you’re director of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture and still own and operate a ranch, there’s not a lot of down time.

ISDA Director Celia Gould, who is in her 10th year, makes the two-hour drive from Boise to Buhl after work each Friday to help run her ranch on the weekend.

Then it’s back to Boise to run the department.

“I’ve never been a person that needed a lot of down time,” she said. “That drive time is really good down time for me.”

Gould, 59, is the state’s first female ag department director and will become the longest serving director at the end of her current four-year term.

Gould, who also served 16 years in the Idaho Legislature, said she took the job because it gave her an opportunity to help an industry she grew up in and loves.

“Agriculture has always been my passion. It’s why I ran for the legislature,” she said. “I wanted to do what I loved and that was agriculture.”

When she was offered the position by Gov. Butch Otter, himself a rancher, she never imagined she would remain for three terms.

“My plan was to be here four years and then go back to the ranch full-time,” Gould said. “I never envisioned I would stay here that long.”

But as she told legislators two years ago before they voted to approve her for a third term, she felt she has unfinished business at the department.

During her second year as ISDA director in 2008, during the recession, the department’s budget was slashed 13 percent and that meant a lot of cutting.

“We cut some things in 2008 that we probably shouldn’t have cut, but we just didn’t have a choice and now we’ve had to go back and do some fence building,” Gould said.

With the ISDA budget almost back to its 2008 level — the department’s 2018 fiscal year budget is $45.5 million while the 2008 budget was $46 million — Gould says she would like to do some positive things.

Gould said that since funding has returned to near normal, the ISDA has stepped up its marketing programs and significantly improved its laboratory capabilities.

Some of her goals include seeking more opportunities for the state’s organic growers, continuing to grow ISDA’s range monitoring program and continuing to grow farm exports, which have almost doubled under her tenure.

She and her husband, former Idaho Speaker of the House Bruce Newcomb, raise angus and wagyu cattle on their ranch.

Otter told Capital Press in a statement that Gould’s “years of experience both in the field and here under the dome of the Capitol made her an ideal pick to lead the department of agriculture, a job she has done with remarkable skill.

“Her considerable knowledge about Idaho agriculture and wealth of experience in the legislature provide her with invaluable insight, which is why I routinely seek her guidance on many issues,” he said.

Celia Gould

Position: Rancher; director of Idaho State Department of Agriculture

Home: Buhl, Idaho

Family: Husband, Bruce Newcomb; five children and 10 grandchildren

Professional: Master’s degree in public administration and bachelor’s degree in political science from Boise State University