Larry Mitchell served in Bill Clinton’s Administration as the Administrator of the USDA’s Grain Inspection Packers & Stockyards Administration. We met for the first time at USDA because we were both Clinton appointees. I had been appointed Chief of Staff for the crop insurance program, and it didn’t take long to find out we had matching “careers” in organizing family farmers to speak up for fair prices.
We were both farmers — Larry in Texas and I in Iowa. We were both in the same fight — our paths had crossed many times before we were appointed to Bill Clinton’s Administration. That “fight” was our mutual commitment to family farmers who were caught in Big Ag’s continuing fight to drive family farmers out of business. His path — a founder and leader of the American Agriculture Movement (AAM), and my path — the National Farmers Organization’s holding actions.
During President Jimmy Carter’s administration, Larry led the AAM in organizing the Tractorcade. Later that same day, with his big heart, he used that tractor to pull out cars stuck in the big snowstorm that hit the Washington area. I was a walker in that Tractorcade, along with many others who were demanding justice for farmers. At USDA, we traded snapshots of the Tractorcade.
Larry later worked for the National Farmers Union and the American Corn Growers Association, representing grassroots members before Congress and the executive branch to improve farming, conservation, and renewable energy programs.
MY RURAL AMERICA applauds Larry’s passion and dedication in the fields and offices where he worked, serving his family, friends, and fellow family farmers in need. If USDA had more appointees like him, the world would be better. He will be sorely missed by friends and colleagues and also by people who never met him but benefited from his dedication to his work on behalf of family farmers everywhere.
Obituary for Lawrence (Larry) Wayne Mitchell