Ken Salazar's brother, John Salazar, retiring as Colorado agriculture commissioner

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 16: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar attends an event where President Bacark Obama announced the administration's new gun law proposals in the Eisenhower Executive Office building, on January 16, 2012 in Washington, DC. One month after a massacre that left 20 school children and 6 adults dead in Newtown, Connecticut, the president unveiled a package of gun control proposals that include universal background checks and bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) (2013 Getty Images)

DENVER (AP) – Colorado Agriculture Commissioner John Salazar is retiring after four years leading the agency through restructuring and a listeria outbreak that threatened the cantaloupe industry.

Salazar announced his retirement Friday. Several members of Gov. John Hickenlooper's cabinet are stepping down, a common occurrence before any administration's second term.

Salazar represented Colorado's 3rd District in the U.S. Congress for six years, working on the 2008 Farm Bill and other agricultural measures. Salazar went to work for Hickenlooper in 2011 after his loss to Republican Rep. Scott Tipton.

While Agriculture Commissioner, Salazar helped the Rocky Ford Growers Association recover from a nationwide listeria outbreak tied to cantaloupe. He also oversaw a boom in Colorado agriculture exports and an agency restructuring.

John Salazar is the older brother of former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

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