Sen. Mo Cowan, D-Mass.
Sen. William “Mo” Cowan, D-Mass., who is filling the remainder of the term of John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who resigned to become secretary of State, has joined the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Cowan has taken the Ag committee seat of Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who has moved to the Senate Finance Committee.

During a hearing today, Cowan noted that he is the first Massachusetts senator to sit on the Agriculture Committee since 1870. He said he would push for aid for Massachusetts fishermen in the farm bill, just as Kerry did.

He also noted that he spent most of his childhood on a family working farm in North Carolina.

Cowan, who is expected to serve in the Senate for only part of a year, also got the chairmanship of the subcommittee in charge of nutrition programs.

The special election for the Massachusetts Senate seat will be held June 25. Cowan is not running in that race.

Casey got Kerry’s seat on Finance, but that necessitated his giving up a committee assignment. Casey will continue to serve on the Foreign Relations Committee, the Health Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the Special Committee on Aging and the Joint Economic Committee.