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If the state Senate approves, former state Rep. Logan Wilde will take over the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food.

April 24, 2020

3 Min Read
Logan Wilde
NEW COMMISSIONER: Utah is getting a new ag commissioner after the previous officeholder stepped down. Logan Wilde brings farm background to his new role and is awaiting state Senate approval.Courtesy of Utah Dept. of Ag and Food

There’s change afoot in the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. When Agriculture Commissioner Kerry Gibson resigned his seat earlier this year to run for the 1st Congressional District seat, it left a vacancy at UDAF.

In March, Gov. Gary Herbert announced he had appointed former state Rep. Logan Wilde to the post. Wilde has stepped down from his position in the Utah State Legislature to take the position. Wilde had filed for reelection, but that’s now off the table, which leaves two Republicans targeting that seat.

Path to public service

After his appointment, Wilde posted a blog discussing his history — and that includes agriculture. In the blog, he notes that his path to public service “began when my uncle, a member of the Morgan County Farm Bureau, ‘volun-told’ me to serve as Morgan County's Young Farmer for the bureau.”

Wilde admits that at the time, he didn't feel he had the time or qualifications for the role, but that didn't persuade his uncle. In fact, his uncle left reading material at the house and told Wilde he was the “new Young Farmer for the Morgan County Farm Bureau.”

That was actually Wilde's first taste of public service, which he says “started me down a path of learning and fighting for the needs within my own community, and in the communities around mine.”

After that service with Farm Bureau, Wilde served as chair of the Morgan County Council, which taught him that top-down management was “costing and damaging relationships on the ground”

His aim has always been to foster relationships that build the community from the bottom up, he says. “I believe that communities grow better and faster when bureaucrats get out of the way.”

Wilde also served as chair of the Weber-Morgan Board of Health, and he learned more about the difficult public policy issues facing the state. “More importantly, I learned that numerous citizens in Utah are willing to help solve these issues through their knowledge, experience and resource,” he adds.

Elected to the Utah House in 2014, he served his district until 2020. “I have actively defended the agricultural practices and interests of these areas,” he says. He also worked as a board member of the Utah Association of Conservation Districts, he adds.

Work experience

Wilde also offered his work history:

• Managing partner, M.R. Wilde and Sons, 1998-present
• Utah State House of Representatives, 2017-present
• Natural Resource Committee vice chair, budgeting and state policy
• Weber-Morgan Health Department board, 2014-16
• Board chair, health policy
• Morgan County Council, 2012-16
• Council chair, administration, county policy, budgeting 
• Utah State Community Development Block Grant policy board
• Wasatch Front Regional Council
• Utah Conservation Commission, 2009-12
• Utah Association of Conservation Districts, 2008-12
• Principal legislative contact
• Department of Agriculture policy
• Morgan Conservation District, 2005-12
• Morgan County Young Farmer/Farm Bureau, 2001-04
• Morgan County Farm Bureau board member

Source: Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.

 

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