Dept of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry

Walter E. Whitcomb, Commissioner – Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, was selected for the Cabinet level position by Governor Paul LePage in January 2011.

Commissioner Whitcomb, along with his staff, provides administrative, financial, human resource, legal and legislative policy direction to 770 Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Department (ACF) employees who are organized into four distinct Bureaus – Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources; Forestry; Parks and Lands; and Resource Information and Land Use Planning. The Commissioner works with ACF Department staff to support the many individuals, businesses and organizations who derive their livelihood and enjoyment from Maine's extensive natural resources.

Commissioner Whitcomb is part of a multi-generation dairy farm in Waldo, Maine now managed by his daughters. He served 12 years in the Maine House of Representatives – 6 years as Republican Floor Leader and as a member of the Joint Standing Committees on Agriculture and Taxation.

A University of Maine graduate, he traveled the country for approximately 3 years from a base in the Chicago suburbs as Editor and Field Representative for the National Agricultural Fraternity, Alpha Gamma Rho. He has served in various positions with local government, Maine and American Farm Bureau, Soil & Water Conservation Districts, various trade organizations, and as the USDA Farm Service Agency State Committee Chairman.

He currently serves as an officer with Northeast Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NEASDA) and has Committee responsibilities with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA).