Jennifer Lester Moffitt (born 1980) is an American organic farmer and government official from

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and the

Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs The Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs is a high-ranking position within the United States Department of Agriculture that supervises policy development and day-to-day operations of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, ...

at the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...

in the

Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the 46th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2021. Biden, a Democrat from Delaware who previously served as vice president under Barack Obama, took office following his victory ...

; she is the first woman to serve in this position. Moffitt previously served as the Undersecretary at the

California Department of Food and Agriculture The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is a cabinet-level agency in the government of California. Established in 1919 by the California State Legislature and signed into law by Governor William Stephens, the Department of Food a ...

Education and career

Moffitt is a graduate of

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

and the California Agricultural Leadership Program. She was the Managing Director at Dixon Ridge Farms, her family’s organic walnut farm and processing operation, for ten years from 2005 to 2015. From 2002 to 2005, she worked at

American Farmland Trust American Farmland Trust is a nonprofit organization in the United States with a mission to protect farmland, promote environmentally sound farming practices, and keep farmers on the land. AFT is staffed by farmers, policy experts, researchers and ...

."President Biden Announces Key Administration Nominations", White House, April 27, 2021
In 2015 she was appointed by Governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

to serve as Deputy Secretary at the

and was promoted to Undersecretary in 2018. In 2019, she was reappointed to serve as Undersecretary by Governor

Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who has been the 40th governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California fr ...

. On April 27, 2021, President Joe Biden announced Moffitt to be his nominee to be the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs. Secretary of the

Karen Ross Karen Ross is the Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, having been appointed to that post by Governor Jerry Brown on January 12, 2011. She had previously served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vi ...

endorsed the nomination. On April 28, 2021, her nomination was sent to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. On July 26, 2021, her nomination was reported favorably out of committee. On August 11, 2021, she was confirmed by the

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...

Personal life

Moffitt is the daughter of Russ and Kathy Lester and grew up on her family's organic walnut farm in

Winters, California Winters is a city in rural Yolo County, and the western Sacramento Valley, in northern California. The population of Winters was 6,624 as of the 2010 Census. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Yuba City, CA-NV Combined Statistical A ...

. She lives in

Davis, California Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of California, Da ...

with her family.

References

External links

"Jennifer Lester Moffitt Confirmed to Serve as USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moffitt, Jennifer Lester Living people 21st-century American women politicians United States Department of Agriculture officials Biden administration personnel American women farmers Brown University alumni Farmers from California Organic farmers People from Winters, California 21st-century American politicians 1980 births