The members of the House Republican Steering Committee announced Tuesday that Rep. Mike Conaway, who represents the Permian Basin in West Central Texas, will become the chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture. Conaway succeeds current Chairman Frank Lucas of Oklahoma, and will assume the gavel at the start of the 114th Congress.

Ranking member Collin Peterson (D., Minn.) said  he expects to have common ground with Conaway as the Committee oversees farm bill implementation and reauthorizing the CFTC during the next Congress. “The Agriculture Committee has a strong bipartisan tradition, which I look forward to continuing under Chairman Conaway,” Peterson said.

American Soybean Assn. first vice president Wade Cowan, who farms in Brownfield, Texas, just north of Rep. Conaway's district, offered ASA's congratulations to the incoming Chairman.

"Rep. Conaway has a proven track record of representing farmers not only in West Central Texas, but across the country, and he will make a fine chairman," said Cowan. "As chair of the Agricultural Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management, Rep. Conaway exhibited fluent understanding of the complex issues that shape the nation's farm program, and how those issues can impact soybean farmers in the field. With this understanding, we are confident that soybean farmer issues will continue to be well represented within the Committee, and we look forward to working with him and his able staff."