Two named to Illinois USDA roles

WASHINGTON — A Grundy County farmer and former university director have been named to U.S. Department of Agriculture leadership roles in Illinois.

Scott Halpin was appointed by President Joe Biden to lead the USDA Farm Service Agency as Illinois executive director, and Betsy Dirksen Londrigan was named USDA Rural Development director for the Prairie State.

Halpin owns and operates Halpin Farms and Halpin Farms Cattle near Gardner in Grundy County in conjunction with his parents and brother. The farm is primarily a row-crop operation in a corn and soybean rotation, but also includes hay and silage production.

In addition to the full-time demands of the farm, Halpin follows a long family tradition of civic engagement, achieving many leadership positions within local and state level agricultural organizations.

He serves as the Kendall-Grundy County Farm Bureau president after leading the two counties through the complicated process of merging their memberships.

During his 10-year service on the Board of Directors for the Illinois Farm Bureau and Country Financial, he served a term as chairman for the Member Services and Public Relations Committee.

Halpin earlier served as chairman of the IFB Young Leaders and was also a director and later president of the Grundy County Soil and Water Conservation District. He is also a member of Illinois Corn Growers Association and the Illinois Beef Association.

Halpin recently traveled to Kenya and Israel to learn about international trade issues as a member of the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Program Class of 2020.

He made similar agricultural market study tours to Vietnam with the Illinois Farm Bureau and to Germany with the German American Chamber of Commerce.

He served on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s agricultural transition team. He received an associate’s degree in agriculture production from Joliet Junior College and was an adjunct instructor for the college concerning dairy science.

Halpin and his wife, Sarah, live in South Wilmington with their three children, Ty, Grace and Cale.

Rural Development

Betsy Dirksen Londrigan is a graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and former director at the University of Illinois Springfield. She brings over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, working with community, regional and state leaders to effect positive change.

She is a lifelong resident of Springfield and is proud that her family members still own and operate the centennial farm in central Illinois where her grandmother was raised.

Dirksen Londrigan is committed to working with rural communities to bring investments to every corner of Illinois to support local and regional initiatives to power economic development and grow local economies.