FARM BUREAU'S KRUSE A POSSIBLE AGRICULTURE SECRETARY

The president of the Missouri Farm Bureau Federation, Charles E. Kruse of Dexter, Mo., is among a handful of potential candidates for secretary of agriculture if Texas Gov. George W. Bush is elected president.

Kruse, a spokesman for Missouri's farmers, won his own election for president of the state's Farm Bureau and its five affiliated companies eight years ago. Since 1992 he has increased membership, image and influence of the organization at both the state and national levels.

As president of an organization representing 91,700 member families, Kruse has expanded the economic and political role of Farm Bureau, involving it in issues ranging from foreign trade policies to the collapse of the state's 15-year road plan to endorsements of state political issues.

As a director of the American Farm Bureau Federation, Kruse has played a major role in setting U.S. trade policies, serving on several international study and advisory groups relating to the sale and distribution of American farm products, tariffs and trade restrictions. He was first elected to the national board in 1995, representing 12 Midwestern state farm bureaus.

Considerable activity has been generated recently by officials at the AFBF national office in Washington to promote Kruse for secretary of agriculture if Bush defeats Vice President Al Gore on Nov. 7. Several members of the national staff, including officials in the organization's governmental relations section, have been lobbying for Kruse. There efforts included talks with national Republican leaders during the GOP convention in Philadelphia.

"Progressive Farmer" magazine includes the Missourian among five possible farm secretary choices in a Bush administration. Two are Democratic congressmen and two are women. Included with Kruse at the top of the list is Susan Combs, Texas commissioner of agriculture. The other woman, Ann Veneman of California, was an assistant farm secretary in the administration of the senior George Bush and is now a private consultant living in California.

The two Democrats, both members of the U.S. House of Representatives' agriculture committee, are among the most conservative members of Congress. They are Rep. Charles Stenholm of Texas and Cal Dooley of California.

Kruse was also named a favorite for the Cabinet post by a large group of farm-state delegates and agribusiness leaders who attended a Bush Farm Team breakfast during the convention. Several AFBF officials attended the gathering. Some actively promoted the candidacy of the Southeast Missouri grain and cotton farmer, says a report filed by Jim Phillips in "Progressive Farmer."

A native of Stoddard County, Kruse is a 1967 graduate of Arkansas State University where he majored in agronomy. He was awarded a master's degree in agronomy from the University of Missouri in 1973.

In 1985, Kruse was appointed director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture by then-Gov. John Ashcroft. In 1991 he accepted the position of executive vice president of the North American Equipment Dealers Association. In August 1992 he resigned to campaign for the presidency of the Missouri Farm Bureau.

Kruse served as the only member form Missouri on President Bush's Council on Rural America. He also served on an intergovernmental advisory panel named by U.S. trade representative Carla Hill and was renamed by her successor, Charlene Barshefsky.

Kruse retired in 1993 as a brigadier general and assistant adjutant general after a 26-year career in the Missouri National Guard.

Among his honors are two achievement awards in 1994 from the University of Missouri and its College of Agriculture after having served as a member of the Board of Curators when Christopher Bond was governor.

The last Missourian to be considered as secretary of agriculture was the late A.L. "Abbey" Storey of Charleston, Mo., a businessman and landowner, who was included on a list in the administration of John F. Kennedy. The appointment went to Orville Freeman of Minnesota.