Fellows in the News

Beal to head Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry

Posted by Lauren Hertel on Wednesday, January 23 2019

Fellows:

Amanda Beal

Topics:

Natural Resource Management, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Policy, Conservation Science & Biology, New England

In her last Cabinet nomination, Gov. Janet Mills announced Friday (January 18 ,2019) afternoon that she has chosen the president of Maine Farmland Trust to head the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.

Amanda Beal, 46, is the Democratic governor’s pick to lead the department, which was created by the merger of separate agriculture and conservation agencies in 2012.

Beal has led the statewide organization that aims to protect Maine farmers and their land as president and chief executive officer since 2016. Her areas of focus have included collaborating with farmers to find continued farmland production, and connecting farmers with food-related businesses to build sustainable partnerships.

Beal also co-wrote “A New England Food Vision,” which discusses the potential for expanding food production on land and at sea. She formerly taught environmental health and public health courses as an adjunct professor at the University of New England.
 
Mills, in a prepared statement, said Beal has “dedicated much of her career to supporting Maine’s agricultural economy and bolstering conservation efforts.” Her experience will lend itself as a “valuable asset” to her leadership role in the department, Mills said.
 

View all Fellows in the News >

Add comment

Log in to post comments

Related Topics

Conservation Science & Biology

Conservation Science & Biology

Conservation biology seeks to document and protect Earth’s...

Natural Resource Management

Natural Resource Management

Switzer Fellows work to manage land, water, soil, plants and animals...

Sustainable Agriculture and Food Policy

Sustainable Agriculture and Food Policy

A healthy and sustainable food supply is at the heart of many...

New England

New England

Includes Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire...

Related News

Put Your Money Where Their Mouth Is: Actualizing Environmental Justice by Amplifying Community Voices

Feb 16, 2020
Fellow Candice Youngblood published a Note in UC Berkeley's Ecology Law Quarterly journal that seeks to paint a picture of what working toward environmental justice should look like.Read more >

Racist housing practices from the 1930s linked to hotter neighborhoods today

Feb 9, 2020
In cities around the country, if you want to understand the history of a neighborhood, you might want to do the same thing you'd do to measure human health: Check its temperature. That's what a group of researchers did, and they found that neighborhoods with higher temperatures were often the same...Read more >

See News By Type

Foundation News

A vibrant community of environmental leaders