The National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) is partnering with Olsson-Frank-Weeda-Terman-Matz (OFW) Law to lead the Association’s farm bill implementation efforts. The team from OFW includes Molly O’Connor, Ken Ackerman and Nathan Fretz.
“We are excited to add the leadership and industry expertise that OFW has into our government affairs department. With farm bill implementation fully upon us it is very important that wheat growers’ needs be heard in the many farm bill implementation and crop insurance discussions,” commented Jim Palmer, NAWG CEO.
Molly O’Connor, NAWG Director of Risk Management, has covered agriculture, food and nutrition, international food aid, energy and forestry issues. Before joining OFW, Molly was the Legislative Assistant at the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA). She served as a liaison between NCGA’s public policy action team to industry partners and Congress, focusing on the farm bill and crop insurance issues as well as PAC management. Prior to NCGA, Molly served as the international trade intern with the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC). Molly completed an internship with Ketchum Public Relations in the Food Business to Business department. Graduated in Agriculture Business from Colorado State University.
Ken Ackerman, Crop Insurance Specialist, will be concentrating on Federal crop insurance, agriculture programs and finance. Ken has a crop insurance practice including assisting insurance companies and farmers. He helps grower organizations develop new insurance product proposals. He was Administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) and Manager of its Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC). He also served as Counsel to two U.S. Senate Committees: the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry under then Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, and the Committee on Governmental Affairs under Senator Charles H. Percy of Illinois, and held senior legal positions at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Farm Bill Specialist, Nathan Fretz, will be concentrating on food and agriculture legislative, regulatory and policy issues. He recently joined OFW after spending six years as counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture, first as majority counsel and later as minority counsel, for Congressman Peterson. He helped negotiate and draft the 2008 and 2014 farm bills, primarily focusing on meat and poultry, dairy, conservation, and food safety issues. sustainability.
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