  USDA Announces New Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Board Members
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack appointed three new members of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) Board of Directors, which oversees the Federal crop insurance program available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The FCIC Board of Directors provides guidance to USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) on administering crop insurance.
Ryan Lankford, Brandon Willis, and Donna King will serve four-year terms beginning this month and Nicole Berg was reappointed to serve a second term.
Mr. Ryan Lankford, a producer representative to the board, grew up in a farm family on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation. After serving in the U.S. Army and earning a bachelor's in civil engineering, Lankford returned home. He has helped his family expand their farming operation to include Red Angus Livestock and Organic Certified crops. Lankford produces winter wheat, spring wheat, canola, peas, lentils, chickpeas, flax and barley on over 10,000 acres of leased Tribal land. He serves as a member of the Tribal Agriculture Expert Committee. Lankford has also served for more than seven years on the county and state FSA committee.
Brandon Willis, an insurance regulator representative to the board, grew up on a fourth-generation sheep ranch in northern Utah. He earned his bachelor’s degree in crop and soil science from Utah State University in Logan, Utah, and his law degree from the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming, before completing a master’s in agricultural law from the University of Arkansas. Early in his career, Willis worked at the National Agricultural Law Center, with the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, and for U.S. Senator Max Baucus. In the Obama Administration, Willis served as Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs, overseeing FSA programs under the Production Emergencies and Compliance Division, Conservation and Environmental Programs Division, and Price Support Division. He also served as Senior Advisor to the Secretary on Title I Commodity programs, farm legislation matters, and disaster assistance before being appointed to serve as the RMA Administrator in 2013. Willis works in the College of Agricultural and Applied Sciences at Utah State University and as owner of Ranchers Insurance.
Donna King, an insurance representative, started with King Crop in 2011 after a twenty-year career with The Washington Post. She is a graduate of Wor-Wic Community College. Throughout King’s career as a crop insurance specialist, she has focused on providing quality customer service to farmers in the Mid-Atlantic region. She lives in Lewes, Delaware. With the King Crop Agency, King sells and services policies for corn, soybeans, lima beans, snap beans, sweet corn, blueberries and peaches, among other crops. King works to ensure that the Whole Farm Revenue Protection program and Micro Farm program are available to producers in her area. Additionally, King has been a strong advocate for the availability of new policies such as RMA’s pilot program for shellfish coverage and the Tropical Storm Option through the Hurricane Insurance Protection – Wind Index endorsement. King also provides sales and services to livestock growers through the Livestock Risk Protection and Livestock Gross Margin protection policies.
More on the FCIC Board
The FCIC board includes:
- Four producers, at least one of whom is a specialty crop producer.
- Chris Bardenhagen
- Howard James
- Nicole Berg
- Ryan Lankford
- One individual involved in insurance, often an agent.
- One individual knowledgeable about reinsurance or regulation.
The Federal Crop Insurance Act requires that the four producer board members come from diverse geographic areas and represent a cross-section of agricultural commodities.
Board members are appointed to staggered four-year terms and members serve up to two terms.
More information about the FCIC is available on the RMA website.
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