In Memory of Mike Moeller

Nora Linares-Moeller sent this out this morning:

“This is the hardest email that I will ever have to write to all of you.  Mike passed away tonight at home at 8:17pm with me and Cullen by his side.  He passed peacefully and not in pain, which I am very thankful for.  

I am making arrangements tomorrow and will get back with you about the details ofvisitation.   Please know that I am so appreciative of all of your thoughts, prayers, love and support over the last year.  He is at peace with God....

Love, Nora

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Mike Moeller served as Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture under Jim Hightower. He was a towering figure in Texas agriculture, both physically and politically. Nora Linares-Moeller recalls on first meeting him, “He’s super tall!” He was president of Texas Farmers Union and board chairman of the National Farmers Union, prior to joining TDA.

Mike grew up on a subsistence farm. According to Mike, “We met all the qualifications for poverty because we didn’t have cash. But we did provide for ourselves pretty well.

My dad learned early on that chemicals had more problems than good. We didn’t knowit, but we were practicing sustainable agriculture. When Hightower comes around, and they’re starting to put emphasis on organics, that was an attraction.”

Early in April 1985, Jim Hightower and Susan DeMarco asked Mike to be the number two guy at TDA. Mike recalls, “By the time I got there, I was already working on farmworker issues and it was obvious pesticide protection was going to be a major thing that we would have to fight for, all the way until Rick Perry came along. I definitely wanted to be involved with that. The whole concept of family farms because that was my background.

Then the farmworker issues led me into minority farmer issues. Think we did a lot of

good work. I’m sure I’m leaving something out because Hightower didn’t believe in just having two or three balls in the air at the same time. But for me those were the fundamentals.”

“I think part of the reason why Hightower wanted me on the team was I had so many of those guys as my friends that were Farmers Union members. I’ve never had a problem with Pete Laney (speaker of the Texas House) ever and that saved us ultimately in ’89 more than just about anything else. He was willing to work with us. He wanted to have everything as many different ways as he could to keep as many donors if he could. But bottom line is on agricultural issues he was Farmers Union...I think some of the stuff is surviving and will continue to survive. All the major stuff we got done for farmworkers is still on the books, and probably not going anywhere, in a negative sense. Both sustainable and organic agriculture are here to stay.”

After Hightower left office, Mike was appointed to the Southern United States Sustainable Agriculture Board and served for several years. He remained a family farmer and has passed his farm and proud agricultural heritage onto his son, Cullen.