Senate approves Merrigan as deputy ag secretary

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate approved the nomination of Kathleen Merrigan, who helped develop U.S. organic-food labeling rules, to be deputy secretary of the Agriculture Department.

Merrigan was confirmed as deputy on Thursday evening, said the Agriculture Committee. Senators also approved Jim Miller as the undersecretary in charge of the farm program and Joe Leonard as assistant secretary for civil rights.

They are the first senior-level officials to join Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in running USDA, which has a budget of $100 billion a year for national forests, public nutrition, farm supports, agricultural research and export promotion.

Traditionally, the deputy secretary is in charge of day-to-day operations. Merrigan helped develop USDA's organic labeling rules while head of the Agricultural Marketing Service from 1999-2001 and then became an assistant professor at Tufts University.

President Barack Obama has nominated Dallas Tonsager for undersecretary for rural development. Yet to be announced are undersecretary nominees for natural resources, public nutrition, food safety, research, and marketing.

(Reporting by Charles Abbott; Editing by John Picinich)