CFTC Chair Heath Tarbert to Sponsor Agricultural Advisory Committee

CFTC Chair Heath P. Tarbert will take over as sponsor of the CFTC's Agricultural Advisory Committee ("AAC"). The AAC advises the Commission "on issues involving the trading of agricultural commodity futures and options and facilitate communications between the CFTC, the agricultural community, and agriculture-related organizations."

Mr. Tarbert stated that maintaining sufficient tools and resources for the agricultural sector to hedge risk and discover prices has, and always will be, the "very cornerstone of the Commodity Exchange Act." Furthermore, Mr. Tarbert called U.S. farmers and ranchers the center of the real markets they regulate, positioning the AAC as a "vital sounding board" for the CFTC.