In Farm Bureau ArFB elects officers, board Randy Veach and Rich Hillman will continue as president and vice president, respectively, of Arkansas Farm Bureau following their Dec. 5 re-election. Delegates also re-elected five board members and two new board members during the final day of the organization’s 80th annual convention at the Hot Springs Convention Center. Veach, 64, of Manila begins a seventh term as president. He is ArFB’s 10th president since its creation in 1935. Veach farms cotton, soybeans, rice, wheat, corn and milo near Manila. He is a thirdgeneration farmer and he and his wife, Thelma, farm with their son Brandon. “I’m humbled to continue to serve this great organization and the hardworking farmers and ranchers who are the backbone of this state’s economy,” Veach said. “I’m deeply committed to agriculture and understand the great responsibility we have to advocating and strengthening the interests of agriculture. Thank you so much.”
Governor-elect Asa Hutchinson addressed more than 970 Arkansas Farm Bureau members and leaders at the Dec. 3 opening session of ArFB’s 80th Annual Convention in Hot Springs, asking them to support his plan for a middle-class income tax cut he will seek during his first year in office. For more highlights from this year’s convention, see the special insert inside. Hillman, 51, hails from Carlisle and will begin his seventh term as vice president. He is a sixth-generation farmer. His main crops are rice, soybeans and wheat. He and his wife Tina have two grown children, Collin and Caroline. “I’m blessed to be able to represent and advocate for the family farms that make this state great,” he said. The voting delegates re-elected five board members to new two-year terms. They include: Joe Christian, Jonesboro; David Wayne Gairhan, Jr. (second from left), a rice, soybean and corn farmer from Jonesboro, received this year’s Stanley E. Reed Leadership Award at the state convention Dec. 3. The award was presented by ArFB President Randy Veach (left), Charlene Reed, wife of the late FB leader and award namesake, and ArFB Vice President Rich Hillman.
KEITH SUTTON photo
www.arfb.com
Terry Dabbs, Stuttgart; Tom Jones, Pottsville; Rusty Smith, Des Arc; and Leo Sutterfield, Mountain View. The new board members are Caleb Plyler of Hope and Dan Wright of Waldron. Plyler, 34, is a rancher with more than 300 Charolais cattle and hay on his 1,362 acres. He and wife Briana have a 3-year-old son, Huck. Wright, 54, is a poultry and hay grower. He and his wife, Belinda, have two grown children, Dustin and Megan.
KEITH SUTTON photo
A Publication of Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation
December 12, 2014 • Vol. 17, No. 23