WASHINGTON, D.C.(Press Release)-A member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota has been appointed to serve as the Administrator of the US Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency.

Zach Ducheneaux will start his new position Monday.

Ducheneaux has spent his career educating people about the critical role of improved food systems, value-added agriculture and foreign exports in responding to the enduring economic and social challenges facing Native Americans and reservations.

He currently serves as the current Executive Director of the Intertribal Agriculture Council, the largest, longest-standing Native American agriculture organization in the United States. The Council represents all Federally Recognized Tribes and serves 80,000 Native American producers. He has been with the Council since the 1990s in various leadership positions, including as former tribal council representative for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

Ducheneaux also serves on the board of directors for Project H3LP!, a nonprofit founded by his family to benefit his local community by providing life lessons and therapy through horsemanship. He and his brothers operate his family’s ranch on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in north central South Dakota.