Among the priorities announced by Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs are building a resilient state and ensuring a positive water future. These are massive and necessary, given the rapid decline in water available to the state’s 7.2 million residents.
Almost six months into my term as a 24-year-old in Arizona.th Governor Hobbes will soon have an agricultural adviser in his cabinet. She recently named Yuma resident Paul Brierley, executive director of the Yuma Center for Desert Agricultural Excellence (YCEDA), to head the Arizona Department of Agriculture.
Brierley’s appointment should please Arizona farmers. Having worked with him for the past three years, I know he is well-respected and well-liked within the community. He is a great resource for me as an agriculture journalist.
He told me recently that his many years of farming at the State Department of Agriculture and then at YCEDA led him to the opportunity. He admitted it was unexpected.
The first time I met Brierley was when I received a cold phone call from him not long after I moved to Yuma. He invited me to a meeting with the Yuma County Department of Agriculture Executive Committee and local legislator Paul Gossard. It was a rare opportunity to hear directly from representatives of the local council about issues affecting local farmers and what they need.
Mr. Brierley is well known in the Yuma region for helping fund the applied research needed to sustain farming operations. Through his personal donation and collaboration with the University of Arizona, research is underway investigating key issues such as lettuce wilt and impatiens necrotic spot virus (INSV).
It’s no secret that land-grant universities such as the University of Arizona play a key role in connecting commercial agriculture with applied research and valuable support. Mr. Brierley, who understood this through his role at YCEDA, will certainly carry on when advising Governor Hobbes.
Mr. Brierley is not short of leadership at YCEDA, but his systematic agricultural knowledge and kind demeanor will certainly be missed. He said the people working on the projects in his office are well positioned to continue to lead those projects, including efforts to solve some of the big problems facing farmers.
From his dreams and prayers in 2014, he shared his time at YCEDA, which has grown into a respected organization that played a key role in bringing farmers back into the workforce safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. It should also be beneficial to the governor’s office, as advises, he said. To the governor on important issues of public policy.
His trustworthy demeanor and relationship with the Arizona agricultural community has led the governor to address many of the priorities that affect the state’s farmers, including water and environmental issues, immigration and border security, education, economic growth, and workforce development. In doing so, it should help bridge the gap between farmers and governors. .
