Land O'Lakes Hires Government Relations Director, Director of State Affairs and Industry Relations

SAINT PAUL, Minn., April 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Land O'Lakes, Inc., is pleased to announce that Autumn Veazey will join Land O'Lakes, Inc., in early May as the new director of government relations and that Daryn McBeth will also join Land O'Lakes as director of state affairs and industry relations.

Veazey serves as professional staff and counsel for U.S. Senator and Ranking Member Thad Cochran of Mississippi and previously served as professional staff and counsel for U.S. Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, former Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. She served as a litigation attorney representing insurance companies in both insurance defense and workers compensation areas, served as Associate Counsel and Director of Legislative Affairs for the United Fresh Produce Association, a trade association, which represents 1,300 member companies and also held the position of manager of federal affairs at Troutman Sanders Strategies, a full-service government relations and issues management firm.

She will be based in Washington, D.C., and will replace Government Relations Director Steve Krikava, who is retiring. Veazy will be responsible for leading Land O'Lakes, Inc.'s company-wide government relations strategy and identifying issues that affect the cooperatives' members and its businesses. She will join Land O'Lakes on May 6.

McBeth has spent the last 10 years at Minnesota Agri-Growth Council, where he was most recently president. He was previously a lobby and outreach consultant and worked with Gordley Associates in Washington, D.C. and was an advisor to U.S. Congressman Earl Pomeroy on all matters in front of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee and worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture where he was special counsel for tax issues for farm programs.

Based in Minnesota, McBeth will be responsible for developing the Land O'Lakes strategy for state-level government relations. He will join Land O'Lakes on April 29.

Land O'Lakes, Inc. (www.landolakesinc.com) is a national, farmer-owned food and agricultural cooperative with annual sales of more than $14 billion. The nation's second-largest cooperative and number 210 on the Fortune 500, Land O'Lakes does business in all 50 states and more than 60 countries. It is a leading marketer of a full line of dairy-based consumer, foodservice and food ingredient products across the United States; serves its international customers with a variety of food and animal feed ingredients; and provides farmers and ranchers with an extensive line of agricultural supplies (feed, seed, and crop protection products and services) under the operations of WinField and Purina Animal Nutrition. Land O'Lakes also provides agricultural assistance and technical training in more than 25 developing nations.

SOURCE Land O'Lakes, Inc.