Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has tapped southwestern Saskatchewan dairy producer Phil Klassen as the newest member of the National Farm Products Council.

The NFPC supervises the operations of the four national marketing agencies that manage Canada’s domestically-produced supply of chicken, turkey, eggs, and broiler-hatching eggs and allocate production quotas.

“Thanks to his over three decades of farming experience, as well as his strong background in producer organizations, Mr. Klassen will be an able addition to the council in its ongoing work,” Ritz said in a release Monday.

Klassen’s term starts immediately and will run for two years, the government said Monday.

Klassen, who farms at Herbert, about 45 km east of Swift Current, became a director of the Saskatchewan Dairy Foundation in the late 1990s, was a member of the steering committee which amalgamated the province’s dairy groups as Dairy Farmers of Saskatchewan (DFS).

Klassen has since served as a DFS vice-president, director and committee member. He has also been a representative to the Western Milk Pool and the Canadian Milk Supply Management Committee, and a delegate to Dairy Farmers of Canada.

Klassen has also served as a member the province’s BSE advisory committee, a director of Agriculture in the Classroom and an observer with the board of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan.