(NAFB) – Former House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson is partnering with Combest, Sell & Associates.

Peterson will not lobby in the near term, but will serve in an advisory and consulting role on policy issues. Peterson describes this alliance as ‘a good fit.’

Combest, Sell and Associates concentrates on agricultural, food policy and rural issues. Clients represent a broad spectrum, including the sugar, cotton, corn, sorghum, rice, crop insurance, dairy, and other industries. Combest, Sell and Associates Co-Founder and Manager Tom Sell says these are grassroots groups from across the nation.

Peterson said the current partisanship in Congress is not good, but it is an area where he feels over time he can help.

Before founding Combest, Sell and Associates, Sell served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for the House Committee on Agriculture, where he was instrumental in crafting the 2002 Farm Bill and the 2000 crop insurance law. Sell also spent time as the USDA Director of Intergovernmental Affairs in the President George W. Bush Administration. While Peterson and Sell come from different political perspectives, they both advocate bipartisanship.

Peterson served 30 years in Congress and had been the leader on the Democratic side of the House Agriculture Committee since 2005, chairing the panel twice including during the development and passage of the 2008 Farm Bill which bears his name.  Chairman Peterson and the Combest Sell team have played leading roles in the development and passage of the past five farm bills and other major farm legislation.