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4-5-2018
New Orleans, Louisiana
The Southern United States Trade Association (SUSTA) would like to congratulate the President of their Board of Directors, Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Cindy Hyde-Smith, on her appointment to the U.S. Senate.
“Governor Phil Bryant could not have appointed a better leader to replace retiring U.S. Senator Thad Cochran than Commissioner Hyde-Smith. As President of the Boards of SUSTA and the Southern Association of State Departments of Agriculture (SASDA), she has been unwavering in her support of Southern agriculture, and she has been a steadfast public servant in her state of Mississippi. A farmer and rancher in her own right, Commissioner Hyde-Smith will bring her passion for agriculture to the Senate floor,” said Bernadette Wiltz, Executive Director of SUSTA.
Cindy Hyde-Smith was elected Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce by Mississippi voters in November 2011, following a 12-year career as a Mississippi State Senator for District 39. With her election, Hyde-Smith made Mississippi history as the first woman to ever be elected to the statewide position. Elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1999, Hyde-Smith quickly became known as a passionate advocate of farmers and ranchers in Mississippi, serving as the Chairman of the Agriculture Committee for eight years and as an influential member of numerous other committees. She is a graduate of Copiah-Lincoln Community College and the University of Southern Mississippi. Hyde-Smith and her husband Mike are the proud parents of Anna-Michael, the family’s fifth generation farmer. Together, they raise beef cattle and are partners in Lincoln County Livestock, a local stockyard auction market in Brookhaven, Mississippi.
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The Southern U.S. Trade Association is a non-profit trade association that implements the Market Access Program (MAP) in the Southern United States. MAP was developed by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS) to help small and medium sized businesses promote U.S. agriculture products in foreign markets. To learn more, please visit www.susta.org.
