Jun 5, 2025

Onion, vegetable growers appointed to Farm Service agencies

Two vegetable growers — including a farm market founder — have been named to head state Farm Service Agencies (FSA).

Alaska vegetable, onion and melon grower Arthur Keyes was appointed executive director of the Alaska’s Farm Service Agency.

Pennsylvania vegetable grower and rancher Richard Ebert was named Pennsylvania FSA executive director.

In late May, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced these and other appointments for key positions at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), including the Food and Nutrition Service, Farm Service Agency and Rural Development, according to a news release from the National Onion Association (NOA).

Keyes owns Glacier Valley Farm, based in Palmer, Alaska, in south-central Alaska 42 miles north of Anchorage, Alaska. Glacier Valley grows Yensis sweet onions, cucumbers, zucchini squash, green beans, tomatoes, watermelons and other vegetables.

A Blairsville, Pennsylvania, native, Ebert was president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau (PFB) from 2014-2022 and served on the American Farm Bureau Federation’s board of directors from 2018-2022. The Ebert family operates a diversified farm operation of beef, sheep and vegetables.

Ebert has a long history of Farm Bureau involvement, having served as PFB’s vice president for 10 years and as a member of the board of directors from 1996 to 2004. He is a past president of the Westmoreland County Farm Bureau. He also chaired PFB’s dairy committee and presented testimony before the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board on behalf of dairy farmers across the state.

Ebert received the Mid-Atlantic “Master Farmer” award in 2009 in recognition of his farm success and civic engagement, and is a recipient of the Charles E. Cowman Memorial Award from the Professional Dairy Manager of Pennsylvania.

“Keyes has been an integral member of the NOA, regularly attending our Washington, D.C., fly-ins to help educate policymakers about the onion industry,” NOA said in the release. 

Keyes is also an NOA Trustee from Alaska.

“Our latest additions to the USDA family are personally invested in ensuring farmers and rural America prosper,” Secretary Rollins said in a news release. “I look forward to seeing the work they will do supporting farmers, ranchers and producers across the country by implementing President Trump’s America First policies.”

During the last 20 years, Keyes led efforts to advance Alaska’s agricultural policy and industry. 

From 2016 to 2019, he was director of the Alaska Division of Agriculture where he developed an internationally recognized, award-winning marketing program for Alaska Grown products.

In 2006, Keyes also founded the South Anchorage Farmers Market, Alaska’s highest-grossing farmers market, according to the release.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) administers farm commodity, disaster and conservation programs for farmers and ranchers, and makes and guarantees farm emergency, ownership and operating loans through a network of state and county offices, according to the USDA.