Brad Deacon is the Director of the Office of Legal Affairs for the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development. Brad has undergraduate and law degrees from Michigan State University, and spent the 1993/4 academic year studying international investment in Germany on a Fulbright grant. Upon returning from Germany, Brad worked on the family farm until May of 1995, when he started working in the Office of the Governor. From 1999 to 2005, Brad served as the Legislative Liaison for the Department of Agriculture, working on passage of legislation including the Food Law and revisions to laws on animal health, pesticides, and consumer protection.

In his current position since 2005, he oversees coordination of litigation and legal issues with the Office of the Attorney General, as well as public hearings, Freedom of Information Act compliance, and development of regulations for the Department. He is also the Department’s emergency management coordinator, overseeing preparedness and response activities related to the food and agriculture sector. Brad is the Co-Chair of the Michigan Food & Agriculture Protection and Defense Working Group, and represents the Department on multiple homeland security and preparedness boards, including the Michigan Homeland Security Preparedness Committee, the State Animal Response Team Board, and the Multi-State Partnership for Security in Agriculture. He has been the Principal Investigator on the Food & Drug Administration’s Rapid Response Team grant to Michigan since 2008. He also served two years as the State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Co-Chair on the national Food & Agriculture Sector Government Coordinating Council. Brad is an adjunct professor at MSU College of Law teaching Agriculture Law and Hospitality Law.