COURTESY USDA - Alexis Taylor, newly appointed director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture.

Members of the Oregon Board of Agriculture recently realized they were headed for an awkward situation during their next meeting in February 2017.

A portion of the board’s first meeting of the year is traditionally dedicated to privately speaking with key legislators who can affect the Oregon Department of Agriculture’s budget and policy goals.

The 2017 meeting, scheduled for Feb. 15-17 in Salem, Ore., is also the first time that board members expect to be introduced to Alexis Taylor, a USDA official who’s been nominated to head the ODA.

At the conclusion of the board’s final 2016 meeting, held Dec. 1 in Wilsonville, discussion turned to the awkwardness that would result if the new ODA director tried to present a united front with board members she’d met only moments before.

The board informally decided to hold a dinner or other get-together with Taylor the night before the meetings with lawmakers, so as to get acquainted with her on a personal basis.

Taylor is expected to face a steep learning curve when she begins her new job on Jan. 23, which is slightly more than a week before the 2017 legislative session begins.