{"id":28296,"date":"2024-06-18T10:47:29","date_gmt":"2024-06-18T14:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=28296"},"modified":"2024-06-18T10:47:29","modified_gmt":"2024-06-18T14:47:29","slug":"loretta-collins-joins-maryland-department-of-agriculture-as-executive-secretary-to-the-state-soil-conservation-committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2024\/06\/18\/loretta-collins-joins-maryland-department-of-agriculture-as-executive-secretary-to-the-state-soil-conservation-committee\/","title":{"rendered":"Loretta Collins Joins Maryland Department of Agriculture as Executive Secretary to the State Soil Conservation Committee"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"image_7899\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/meltwater-apps-production.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/images\/64d24cfaa763870010ab23b6\/blobid0_1718721668816.jpg?resize=239%2C319&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"239\" height=\"319\" \/><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>ANNAPOLIS, MD\u00a0\u00a0(June 18, 2024)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The\u00a0<strong>Maryland Department of Agriculture<\/strong>\u00a0has announced that\u00a0<strong>Loretta Collins<\/strong>\u00a0has been appointed as the new\u00a0<strong>Executive Secretary<\/strong>\u00a0to the\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/about_mda\/Pages\/md-soil-conservation-committee.aspx\">State Soil Conservation Committee<\/a><\/strong>. As the Executive Secretary, Loretta will coordinate conservation programs and activities with local soil conservation districts, federal and state agencies, and public and private agricultural and natural resource organizations.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Bringing a wealth of experience to the department, Loretta has embarked on various professional journeys that included fieldwork in conservation farming practices and archaeology, as well as public school teaching. During more than a decade of affiliation with the<strong>\u00a0University of Maryland<\/strong>, she has researched best management practices to reduce phosphorus loss from crop fields, served as an agricultural nutrient management specialist, and coordinated agricultural stakeholder groups and scientific panels at the Chesapeake Bay Program in Annapolis.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Loretta is an alumnus of\u00a0<strong>St. Mary\u2019s College of Maryland<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>The George Washington University<\/strong>, and the\u00a0<strong>University of Maryland<\/strong>. She received a B.A. in psychology, an M.A. in secondary education, and an M.S. in soil and watershed science, respectively.\u00a0 She also maintains certifications in K-12 education and agricultural nutrient management plan writing. She is a member of the\u00a0<strong>Maryland Association of Professional Soil Scientists<\/strong>, the\u00a0<strong>Soil and Water Conservation Society<\/strong>, and the\u00a0<strong>Soil Science Society of America<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">For more information about the\u00a0<strong>State Soil Conservation Committee<\/strong>\u00a0please visit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mda.maryland.gov\/\">www.mda.maryland.gov<\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center\">###<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center\">Follow Maryland Department of Agriculture on Facebook\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MdAgDept\">@MdAgDept<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ANNAPOLIS, MD\u00a0\u00a0(June 18, 2024)\u00a0\u2013 The\u00a0Maryland Department of Agriculture\u00a0has announced that\u00a0Loretta Collins\u00a0has been appointed as the new\u00a0Executive Secretary\u00a0to the\u00a0State Soil Conservation Committee. As the Executive Secretary, Loretta will coordinate conservation programs and activities with local soil conservation districts, federal and state agencies, and public and private agricultural and natural resource organizations. Bringing a wealth of experience<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2024\/06\/18\/loretta-collins-joins-maryland-department-of-agriculture-as-executive-secretary-to-the-state-soil-conservation-committee\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28296"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28297,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28296\/revisions\/28297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}