Office of the Director

Divisions of the Department of Agriculture

Animal Services Division

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Robert Smook – Assistant Director – Animal Services Division, Acting in the following positions: Legislative Liaison, Public Information Officer, Tribal Liaison, Ombudsman and Custodian of Records

Rob joined the Arizona Department of Agriculture in July of 2018 as the Legislative Liaison and Public Information Officer.  During his time there he also took on the roles of Tribal Liaison, Agency Ombudsman and Custodian of Records.  On October 16, 2023, Rob became the Acting Associate Director for the Animal Services Division.  After serving 6 months in that role, Rob applied for and was selected as the Associate Director for the Animal Services Division.

Rob’s governmental and public affairs career spans nearly 33 years, having begun his career at the Arizona House of Representatives in December of 1990.  Rob spent about 8 years at the House before joining the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry in 1998 where he was the Manager of Public Affairs for the Chamber.  Other public affairs stops included the Arizona Department of Administration, Arizona State Retirement System as well as his current employer, the Arizona Department of Agriculture.  Rob’s governmental stops included being the agency rule writer and the state fleet administrator for the Arizona Department of Administration.  In addition to state fleet, Rob was assigned oversight to other government programs that needed fixing and improvement.

Rob was born and raised in Arizona.  A life-long Sun Devil, Rob graduated from Arizona State University in 1997.  Rob has always had an admiration for agriculture as many of his family in the Midwest still ranch, run working farms or are involved in some form of agricultural business.

Citrus Fruit & Vegetable Standarization / Federal State Inspection Service

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Ed Foster was born and raised in Casa Grande, Arizona. He was a regular hand on the farm as soon as he could swing a hoe. The Foster Farm grew various crops, mainly cotton, alfalfa, grain, safflower, but also some watermelons and then later lettuce for Bud Antle.  He graduated from Casa Grande Union High School and then attended Mesa Community College. After college, Ed began work for the Federal State Inspection Service (FSIS) based in Phoenix. He worked for FSIS for five years before joining the Arizona Citrus, Fruit and Vegetable Standardization in 1979. Ed started as an inspector and later became the Assistant Supervisor for CFV. After 18 years of work, Ed departed CFV. In 1997, he worked for Empire Fruit Company in Queen Creek, Arizona for five years. Although he enjoyed working in the Citrus Industry, housing development had replaced all of the citrus groves in the Chandler Heights area and led him to his next opportunity. In 2002, Weyerhaeuser started developing business in the West in order to build a new bulk packaging plant in Exeter, California.  Ed then became Weyerhaeuser’s Sales Engineer for the bulk packaging for the Southwest region. He won several sales awards and excelled in bringing new business to the company. After seven great years, the Weyerhaeuser Corporation decided to sell their whole packaging division to International Paper. Soon after the acquisition Ed returned to the AZDA as the Assistant Director of Citrus, Fruit and Vegetable Standardization. Ed now lives in the Casa Grande - Eloy area with his wife of eleven years, Suzette. Ed has one child, his son Randall.

Environmental & Plant Services Division

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Jack Peterson grew up working on a family farm in Minnesota, received a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from North Dakota State University and then spent 10 years working in North Dakota, as an engineer, an educator and a regulator. In 1994 former Director Kelly hired Jack as the Assistant Director of the Environmental Services Division.  

In 2021 former Director Killian combined the Environmental Services Division and the Plant Services Division.  We help protect consumers as it relates to product quality for pesticide, feed, seed, and fertilizer.

We help ensure proper agricultural pesticide use ensuring both users and bystanders are protected as required by law.  

We deal with plant quarantine and pest exclusion which helps keep green industry commerce flowing while at the same time by working with industry, it provides protections to consumers from unwanted pests.  Finally we work with the USDA and the industry to have an acceptable state program which helps the grower community with this emerging crop.

Pest Management Division

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Vince Craig is a native to the great state of Arizona.  He has worked in State-government for over 33 years.  He has worked for the Pest Management Division (PMD) for the past 32 years (formerly, Office of Pest Management and  prior to that, the Structural Pest Control Commission).  He has served as a Compliance Inspector, Continuing Education Coordinator, Investigations Supervisor, Deputy Director, Compliance Manager and now serves as the Assistant Director of the Division.  

Prior to working for the PMD, he worked 2 years on the administrative side for a pest control firm. He has been married to the love of his life since 1990-- which almost coincides with the length of time he has served in State-government.  In his spare time, he enjoys community outreach and photography.

Weights and Measures Service Division

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Mike Brooks began with the Arizona Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures Services Division in June 2016 as an Investigator serving Northern Arizona.  Mike was promoted to Compliance Officer in December 2018, Compliance Manager (managing commercial device and retail programs) in February 2022, and Assistant Director in August 2023. Mike has also had leadership positions with the Western Weights and Measures Association and the National Conference on Weights and Measures.