Prior to becoming a State Board member, Mr. Shaffer had been a local farm leader, serving terms as board member, vice president, president and legislative chairman of the Columbia County Farm Bureau.

Mr. Shaffer grows grain and vegetables on 300 acres of owned farmland and another 700 acres of rented ground. He also provides custom harvesting and trucking of snap beans for area farms.

In addition to Farm Bureau leadership, Mr. Shaffer has been active in other ag-related organizations. He was Chairman of USDA's Farm Service Agency State Committee from 1993 to 1996. Since 1994, he has served as president of the Pennsylvania Foundation for Agriculture Awareness which sponsors annual Ag in the Classroom workshops for elementary school teachers. He serves on the board of the Pennsylvania Vegetable Marketing and Research Program and the Columbia County Agricultural Extension Association; and is a member of the state Department of Environmental Protection Agricultural Advisory Board; the Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association, the PFB Marketing Cooperative, the Pennsylvania Master Corn Growers Association; and was the founding member of the Columbia County Crop Improvement Association (1987-1994).

In 1996, Mr. Shaffer was named a Pennsylvania Master Farmer. The award was presented in recognition of his farming and leadership achievements by Pennsylvania Farmer magazine and The Pennsylvania State University Cooperative Extension Service.

Mr. Shaffer was elected by the delegates from agricultural societies for a three-year term beginning July 1997 and was reelected for succeeding terms.

February 2007