President Joe Biden has appointed fourth-generation farmer Matt Gellings to direct USDA’s Farm Service Agency in Idaho.

Gellings, of the Osgood area just west of Idaho Falls, was sworn in as state executive director Jan. 18. He succeeds Tom Dayley, whom former President Donald Trump appointed in April 2019. For the past year, Charles Newhouse, longtime farm programs chief, served as acting director.

“I am just so super-excited,” said Gellings, 64.

Serving a dozen years on FSA’s state committee likely helped him get the appointment, he said.

“Over the last 12 years, I’ve said agriculture is so critical to the nation,” Gellings said. “Everybody wants to know where their food comes from. We’re here to unite these rural communities, and let them know we’re here for them and for the farmer and rancher.”

One of his near-term priorities is to set up a permanent FSA state committee. An acting committee has been operating since July.

A permanent state committee’s value is “to get that voice out there, that perspective,” Gellings said.

The three- to five-member FSA state committees, which have producer representation, constitute a grassroots voice rare for a federal agency.

“When an appeal comes up from dairy, I want someone from dairy” on the committee, Gellings said. He aims to have members from various ag sectors and locations selected, vetted, and approved by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack this spring.

FSA also has county committees.

Gellings, who will be based in the state office in Boise, plans to visit all of the agency’s 29 service centers. Hiring in Idaho is a major focus.

“The first thing is to try to get our offices fully staffed,” he said. “And in talking to national in the last couple of days, we are definitely in a hiring mode … the (Biden) administration is saying: Get it fully staffed.”

FSA in Idaho in recent years lost personnel for reasons including COVID-19 impacts, and people retiring or moving to other employers.

For example, six county executive directors retired at the end of 2021, Gellings said. The agency is hiring for those positions as well as a farm loan chief. Three program technicians at local service centers were to start Jan. 24. The agency employed 109 people full-time in the state as of Jan. 1.

FSA in Idaho in 2021 loaned about $800 million, from all programs combined, including $5.91 million in total disaster assistance prompted by drought and other issues.

Gellings, who has served on the boards of various agricultural organizations over the years, plans to return to his farm as time allows to help with the work.

He and his wife, Kathy, in recent years have been leasing the 293-acre crop farm to another operator.

Matt Gellings has continued to work on the farm, to which he returned after breaking both legs in a snowmobile accident in late 2016.

He studied marketing and management at Boise State University.