Chris Chinn, pork advocate and 2010 National Hog Farmer Master of the Pork Industry, has been pegged to lead Missouri’s Department of Agriculture.

Gov.-elect Eric Greitens has named Chinn, a fifth-generation farmer from Clarence, Mo., to replace Richard Fordyce, current DOA director under Gov. Jay Nixon. Greitens becomes governor on Jan. 9. Chinn’s appointment will need to be confirmed by the Missouri Senate.

According to an article on KRCGtv.com, Greitens says of Chinn: “Her new mission is clear: to protect and promote agriculture in Missouri so that her kids can grow up to be the family’s sixth generation of farmers. … She understands that we have a great opportunity before us.”

Chinn raises hogs, cattle, corn, soybeans and hay on the family’s farm. She and her husband, Kevin, have two children.

Greitens credits Chinn for being a voice for U.S. agriculture through her blogs and the platform she had when chosen as a 2013 “Face of Farming and Ranching” by the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance.

A Kansas City Star article quoted Greitens in his Facebook post, which he used to announce Chinn’s selection: “She (Chinn) has become a voice for Missouri farmers, and she has repeatedly stood up to critics and activists. She writes and speaks around the state and country about what a farm can do when it is run with care.”

The announcement of Greitens’ selection of Chinn to lead the DOA was met with favor by the Missouri Farm Bureau. In a statement, the Farm Bureau says: “We are pleased with Gov.-elect Greiten’s choice of Chris Chinn as the next director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture. Chris is a respected, nationally known advocate for agriculture, a successful hog farmer and an exceptional appointment to lead Missouri’s Agriculture Department.”

Missouri Ruralist Editor, Mindy Ward, wrote in her Jan. 2 blog about an interview she had conducted with Chinn in 2008 after she posted a video on YouTube of her family's hog operation. Chinn had told Ward that when people did an internet search for “pork production,” she wanted to Chinn family video to show up on the search list. “We want them to see the real image of modern pork production.”