SAF leader appointed to USDA advisory committee
Dr. Marvin Miller, AAF, of Ball Horticultural Company in West Chicago, Illinois, recently was named to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics. NASS conducts hundreds of surveys every year and prepares reports covering virtually every aspect of U.S. agriculture, including production and supply issues, prices paid and received by farmers, farm labor and wages, farm finances, chemical use, and changes in the demographics of U.S. producers.
“As a member and leader of SAF, Dr. Miller’s expertise and knowledge of the industry have been particularly valuable in interpreting statistics collected by federal agencies and in helping those agencies sharpen and focus their effort in collecting statistics for our industry,” wrote SAF Chief Operating Officer Drew Gruenburg in a letter nominating Miller for the post.
Miller is the first SAF member to be appointed to the NASS committee. In fact, he was the person to connect SAF with NASS for an important data tool.
In the early 1980s, Miller traveled to Washington to ask NASS to reinstate its Floriculture Crops Summary, which had started in 1956 but was discontinued temporarily in 1982 and 1983.
"I made that trip", and the NASS folks said, "You’re only one person from one company," Miller explained. "How do we know the industry will be supportive?"
From there, Miller started working with SAF and together, “we got the report reinstated in time for 1984 data,” he explained.
Miller sits on the SAF board of directors, Growers Council and Awards Committee. As an SAF member, he has been a longtime advocate for industry issues during SAF’s Annual Congressional Action Days. In addition, Miller is on the board of trustees for the American Floral Endowment and the current treasurer and past president of America in Bloom.
For more information:
safnow.org