ArFB - 2014 Annual Report

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2014 ANNUAL REPORT

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President’s Report

BY RANDY VEACH “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.” — Vince Lombardi

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rkansas Farm Bureau is many things to many people, inclusive of more than 190,000 Arkansas families who represent every demographic segment of Arkansas ­— rural and urban — and inclusive of all races, genders and economic circumstances.

There are some common traits among our members, though, and I believe they have been summed up well by the theme of the 2014 Annual Report, Commitment, Community, Compassion.

Vince Lombardi’s quote above sticks out to me because it addresses commitment, and one’s quality of life. You will recall that Arkansas Farm Bureau’s mission statement is: 1. To advocate the interests of agriculture in the public arena.

2. To disseminate information concerning the value and importance of agriculture.

3. To provide products and services which improve the quality of life for our members.

As an organization, I don’t believe we can succeed in our mission without including commitment, community and compassion.

When I consider commitment, I think of the late Steve Stephan, who came to the United States in 1959 from his native Germany, speaking no English and with just a small amount of money in his pocket.

Steve started out in New York, and then went to the West Coast, where he met Zelma, who would become his wife. Someone exposed them to Arkansas and they chose to settle in the Arkansas River Valley, around Hartman, because it reminded him of where he’d grown up.

Once here, Steve began to farm, raising cattle, laying hens and swine, and started a family. He began with a small farm, 56 acres, and through hard work and commitment, he expanded that farm.

He was exposed to the Johnson County Farm Bureau by a friend, who invited him to serve on the

county board. A year later he became county president, and served Farm Bureau diligently as president for 15 years. He was also chairman of our state swine commodity division, on the Arkansas Pork Producers Board and a member of the Arkansas Agriculture Department Board.

Steve died Sept. 1, after a bout with cancer. The county Farm Bureau board served as honorary pallbearers at the funeral. In his casket, the family placed a Farm Bureau cap. They understood Steve’s commitment to Farm Bureau.

Steve’s story is emblematic of so many of our Farm Bureau leaders, truly committed to this organization and to your communities.

That’s why when you look at the leaders of the county Farm Bureau board; you are looking at the leaders of your communities.

Whether it’s the local United Way board, the conservation district, the church council, the school board, the youth baseball leagues, the quorum court, whatever. Those boards are filled by Farm Bureau leaders who work to make their communities stronger.

Thank you for that work, delivered so compassionately.

In fact, I believe our compassion is on display more frequently than any other character trait. You can’t be involved in the production of food, fiber and shelter without having passion for agriculture and compassion for people.

Farmers and ranchers feel a responsibility to feed and clothe their families, but also to feed those who are hungry and need to be fed. Because of the compassion we have as farmers and ranchers, we understand what we produce can help feed people Culturally, we have compassion with the way we conduct ourselves, reflected in the way our insurance operations are run and our advocacy efforts on behalf of agriculture.

Commitment, community, compassion.

I am thankful to be part of an organization that uses these tenets throughout our efforts.

God bless you and your families.

God bless the farmers and ranchers.

God bless Arkansas Farm Bureau.

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profiles in

Commitment, Community, Compassion

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he thread that is Farm Bureau membership weaves itself in many different ways throughout the lives of more than 190,000 Arkansas Farm Bureau members. For most, it may not be readily apparent in their day-to-day lives, but it is definitely there.

This annual report features five members,

Andre Peer page 6

Jimmy Pat Blackburn page 8

all with their own unique personal stories of how that Farm Bureau thread has stitched itself in moments of time or throughout the fabric of their lives. The stories once again prove the strength of Farm Bureau in Arkansas communities, rural and urban, comes from members like you. Everyday stories from everyday people.

Jon Eubanks page 10

Keith Rinehart page 12

Kevin Short

page 14

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What cannot be achieved in one lifetime will happen when one lifetime is joined to another.

”

— Harold Kushner

ANDRE PEER

“You’ve got to be a survivor.

And you’ve got to have the drive and willpower to get it done.”

The Commitment to Survive

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ndre Peer is a committed farmer and a survivor. It’s what he knows best. He runs a diverse farm, growing rice, corn, soybeans, wheat and milo on 3,900 acres in the Delta in Lee and Phillips counties. He’s even just obtained his first few head of cattle. The scattered chunks of land he farms abut the west side of Crowley’s Ridge not far from the little town of La Grange. Like many who come from farming families, continuing the farming tradition wasn’t his first choice on what to do with his life even though he liked farming.

“I grew up on a farm, and when I went to college I got a degree in agriculture economics.” That led to a job with USDA, but Peer admits he “didn’t like being confined to the office.” He decided to come home and try “. . . this ingenious idea to drive a big truck.” He quickly realized that wasn’t his place in life either after being stranded for days on the road by a couple of ice storms. “So I decided to get back into what I knew best,” he said, “and that was farming.” Peer, now 43, got started in 2002.

Peer says his grandfather began farming in the late 1960s. After his grandfather retired, Andre’s dad farmed some but had a stronger penchant for politics, which led him to Washington when Bill Clinton became president. The family had been renting its farmland to other famers. Now, Andre was ready to gather the pieces and get back to what he knew best.

He quickly built his operation to 1,800 acres.

However, in 2006 he had “… the poorest year I’d ever had.” The bank not only denied his loan to cover spring planting but the loan officer told him that he’d be out of business by the next year. But Peer was committed to be a farmer and took it as a challenge.

“I was forced to make some immediate decisions,” he said. Now, he says along with family support and

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perseverance, his operation has grown to the success it is .

In 2014, Peer applied for and successfully graduated from Farm Bureau’s President’s Leadership Council. His reason for getting involved was not simply to learn leadership skills.

“I thought it would be a good idea to meet some of the people in Farm Bureau and actually see what my $35 annual membership dues go toward,” he said.

The course opened his eyes. “One of the main things I picked up was realizing all the things Farm Bureau does for the farming community besides selling the insurance. Farm Bureau is into a lot of things, like networking in the community to try and make it a better place. That’s really nice to see them out there trying to help.”

Peer also found the benefit networking with other farmers could provide, too. “That was another interesting thing to see,” he said. “We would trade information on how we’d do things and walk away with some ideas on how to make a little more money.”

Peer says one of the people he met through the PLC worked for Tyson Foods. “I grow corn, and I was trying to get to the linking point where I could sell directly to Tyson,” Peer said. “He put me in touch with someone I could sell my corn to directly from the field and get a better price. By meeting him in the leadership class, he put me to the right person I needed to talk to.”

Peer and his wife April, who is a chief financial officer for the Lee County Cooperative Clinic, have a 7-year-old son A.J. Peer wants A.J. to have the opportunity to follow in his footsteps. That also drives his commitment to the farming life.

“You’ve got to be a survivor,” Peer said. “And you’ve got to have the drive and willpower to get it done.”

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J I M M Y PAT B L A C K B U R N

“I had no wife, no cash money and two sons ages 8 and 11 who were completely dependent on me. I had nothing God needed, so I wasn’t in any position to bargain with Him. But I made a covenant ...”

A Most Interesting Farmer

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immy Pat Blackburn, who farms with his two sons in rural Greene County, had no interest in being interviewed for this profile. It wasn’t that he was being cantankerous — though sons Justin, 31, and Britt, 28, say their dad can be that way, well … sometimes. In his return phone call following the interview request, Blackburn recited from a list he’d created. One printed list was “Reasons why JP interview might be interesting.” The other printed list he read from was “REASONS NOT TO INTERVIEW JIMMY PAT BLACKBURN.” First on the latter list was: “Not a very interesting person.”

Blackburn, 74, is a thoughtful and interesting man.

He was born on and farms what’s known as the old Alexander Plantation. He still maintains the ground of his great grandparent’s old home place where he says he goes for “… solitude and reflection.” He has a mathematics degree from Arkansas State University, was a college and high school math teacher, worked in the early development of computers and is the seventh generation of the family on his side to farm (“… probably more, haven’t researched further back than 1790.”) his sons the eighth.

Blackburn claims to “… have most of the junk I have accumulated in 50 years of farming.” He prefers to refer to it “… as an unlimited supply of spare parts and repair material. I am the only one who knows where most parts are.”

He’s never farmed more than 1,200 acres in his 50 years of farming, only once had a new piece of equipment, has predominantly been a dry-land farmer, farms mostly rented land, owned only two new pickup trucks, has everything paid off and doesn’t have to borrow money for any part of his farming operation, something he worked hard to achieve.

It didn’t come without a price. Blackburn says at

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55 he “… had no wife, no cash money and two sons ages 8 and 11 who were completely dependent on me.

I had nothing God needed,” Blackburn continued, “so I wasn’t in any position to bargain with Him. But I made a covenant with God that I wanted to see them grown and that as long as He allowed me to live, I would make it my first priority to raise them to be responsible men and to take them to church every Sunday.” He wanted to keep his boys busy and believed the farming life and its strong work ethic gave him the best chance to teach them good values and, hopefully, out of trouble. “That worried me, so I wanted to make sure they had the same opportunities I had.”

Throughout his career, Blackburn has served Farm Bureau for more than 25 years as a county board member, including as secretary and vice president.

When he bought his first car in 1962, he insured it with Farm Bureau.

Blackburn says he’s raised nearly every crop suitable for Greene County except rice and fish. He’s been an innovative farmer, instituting skip-row cotton farming in 1982 and modifying a four-row cotton picker to pick three rows of the skip-row pattern. He was Greene County no-till farmer of the year in 1985. He got into hog farming when he retired from teaching and his students gifted him with a pig. Even now he and his sons are willing to try something new, growing sesame the past two years. They also lease duck hunting ground.

Regarding that covenant with the Almighty, Blackburn said “I kept my promise, and I am very happy to say that I couldn’t be any more proud of each of my sons. They still attend church with me even though they are now 28 and 31 years old. I don’t have any complaints. It’s been a pretty good life.”

That’s not a bad story from a guy who doesn’t consider himself very interesting.

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JON EUBANKS

“I believe family is the most important institution in society, that work is an essential aspect of life and when you’re in service of your fellow man you’re in the service of God. And that’s very important to me.”

Family, Work, Community Service

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on Eubanks tries to live life simply even though he is a busy man. Yet, despite all the activities he’s involved in — rancher, poultry grower, husband, father, state legislator, Boys and Girls clubs, serving on community boards and so much more — each part of his daily activity is most likely tied to the three simple things he values most: family, work and community service.

The energetic Eubanks, 63, lives just south of Subiaco in an area known as Greasy Valley. His farm borders the land where the Franciscan Subiaco abbey sits. Though not a native of the state, he decided he was going to move from Virginia to Arkansas after visiting a friend in 1972. A few years later, he and his wife, Janet, were on their way to Arkansas and have been here for 38 years. His father and mother decided to come, too.

He and his father bought an 80-acre farm with two poultry houses on it and a year later he bought the house he lives in now on adjacent property and added it to his holdings. “Of course when we got the farm, we got insurance with Farm Bureau,” Eubanks recalled. The elder Eubanks was asked and served on the North Logan County Farm Bureau board, and Jon eventually followed suit in the mid-1990s and later served as county president. “I started going to commodity meetings in Little Rock and the annual state conventions, and you know how that works. You start making connections with people all across the state,” Eubanks said. “I’ve just always been active in attending the meetings.”

Even with a busy schedule as a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, Eubanks still serves on the county board and regularly attends the various meetings. He’s a strong believer in community service, something he learned from his father. “I

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think if you’re going to be a member of something, you need to devote the time that’s necessary. And the things that Farm Bureau supports and represents are important to me,” Eubanks said. “It’s not just the farming aspect of it but for what it does for rural Arkansas. The people of rural Arkansas and farming need the voice of Farm Bureau.”

Eubanks says one of the reasons he chose Arkansas was he wanted to raise his children on a farm. “I just wanted to provide my children with the best possible environment in which to grow up. I grew up in a rural area and helped on farms when I was a kid,” he said.

“The work ethic just was engrained in me, and I know how much I valued it. I thought it was going to be good for my children.”

Married 40 years, he and Janet have shepherded a successful family. Christopher, 36 is a University of Arkansas grad working in agriculture. Nick, 34, is a Texas Tech grad. Daughter Stacy, 29, also graduated from the University of Arkansas. And the youngest, Andrew, 26, is a U.S. Naval Academy grad presently in flight school.

“Employers love to hire kids off the farm, because they know how to work, and we wanted our children to have an appreciation for hard work,” Eubanks said.

“The people who live in rural Arkansas and throughout the country seem to have a better appreciation of what it takes to achieve things.”

Eubanks summed up the simple philosophy he tries to live his life by. “I believe family is the most important institution in society, that work is an essential aspect of life and when you’re in service of your fellow man you’re in the service of God. And that’s very important to me,” he said. “To whom much is given, much is expected, and I take that seriously.”

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KEITH RINEHART

“Being from a small town and a one-horse farm, I guess you could say the only culture I had was agri-culture.”

A Little Goes a Long Way

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hen talking with Keith Rinehart, you get the feeling “impossible” is not a commonly used word in his everyday vocabulary. His dedication and strong work ethic throughout his long career in agriculture make negative words like that of little use. Rinehart, 75, retired and living in Hot Springs Village with his wife Jo Anne, is the quintessential American story of making a little go a long way.

Rinehart grew up on a small farm in McCaskill (Hempstead County). As a senior in high school in 1957, he had slim chance of going to college due to his family’s financial situation. That all changed when he was awarded a Romeo E. Short Memorial Scholarship.

The scholarship program started in 1955 gets its name from the former Arkansas Farm Bureau president. It funds students majoring in agriculture at the University of Arkansas. Rinehart says the scholarship was “extremely valuable” to him. It, combined with working afternoons and Saturdays at the university farm feed mill, as well as other odd jobs he found, helped pay his way through school.

Rinehart says everything he did in college was related in some way to agriculture. He was a member of FarmHouse fraternity, in the ag student association and the animal science club among other organizations. “Being from a small town and a one-horse farm, I guess you could say the only culture I had was agri-culture,” Rinehart said. He credits E. L. Ed Stephenson, Ph.D, a professor in poultry science, as being a great mentor to him. “He got students committed to going to school in the poultry science area.”

After earning a degree in general agriculture, Rinehart fulfilled his college ROTC obligation by spending two years in the Army, got married and then went

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back to Fayetteville to earn a master’s degree in poultry nutrition. Next was a Ph.D. at Purdue University, focusing on nutrition and biochemistry. However, the reach of that small Romeo E. Short Memorial Scholarship combined with his hard work wasn’t complete in the life of Keith Rinehart yet.

Well educated and ready for the working world, he landed a job he stayed 10 years with at Ralston-Purina in St. Louis in meat bird research and nutrition.

Next, was a five-year stint as director of nutrition and purchasing with Fieldale Corp. in Georgia. And, finally, he was lured to poultry giant Perdue Farms in Maryland by its iconic founder Frank Perdue. Rinehart spent most of his 18 years there as vice president of technical services, overseeing poultry production, research, laboratories, nutrition and veterinarian services. Throughout his career, many honors from professional and academic organizations came his way including the rare combination of being president of the Poultry Science Association, as well as being honored as a Fellow of the organization.

Rinehart is proud of his career and accomplishments, but there is a definite sense of humbleness in him. And it emerges through his continual referencing of that Romeo E. Short Memorial Scholarship and the opportunity it gave him to get started on his career path, an opportunity he made sure not to waste.

“I met so many interesting people along the way,” Rinehart recalled about his career. “I never would have been able to do it if I hadn’t have been jump-started by the Short scholarship and headed off in that direction. It’s amazing. You needed something like that where I came from or you probably wouldn’t have ever gone to school.”

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KEVIN SHORT

“Son, it’s all gone. You need to load up and come home.”

“Everything Else Is Just Stuff.”

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magine sitting in a restaurant a few hundred miles from home watching The Weather Channel detail the tracking of a tornado headed right for your neighborhood. That’s exactly what happened to professional bass fisherman Kevin Short, 53, and his wife, Kerry, as he was preparing for a tournament.

“It was a Sunday evening and we’d gone out to a restaurant,” Kevin recalled, “and they actually had The Weather Channel on the TV.” It was then they realized the projected path of severe weather that included a tornado was heading toward their home on Lake Conway and the nearby home of Kevin’s 88-year-old father Louie, affectionately known as “the Fossil.”

Kevin called his father as the tornado bore down on their homes located near the lake’s dam. His dad said it was “looking kind of rough.” Kevin called again after the storm had worked its way across that end of the lake to find out what had happened.

The Fossil didn’t answer his phone.

Kevin says it took 15 to 20 minutes before his father finally answered the phone. He asked his dad how bad it was and his dad — sounding rattled — simply said, “Son, it’s all gone. You need to load up and come home.”

Kevin says information like that is something you can’t mentally process right away. But he was thankful that his father was alive and his dad’s girlfriend who also lived in the neighborhood was OK. “That’s good,” he said. “That’s what matters most. I guess my first thought after that was, ‘Everything else is just stuff.’

“You have to understand that Kerry and I had already lost a whole lot more important than a house,” he said, referring to their 19-year-old daughter they’d lost in a car wreck in 2004. That put this tragedy into a different perspective for the couple.

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Still, the impact was severe, though Kevin insists he and Kerry were more fortunate than other neighbors. Their house was unlivable and would have to be torn down. And the tornado had wiped his father’s house clean from the ground. Kevin called the Farm Bureau Insurance claims number the next morning and was told someone would be out there as soon as possible. Soon after, State Claims Manager John Bonner called and assured him someone would be there that day. “I was pretty impressed with that,” Kevin said. Adjuster Arla Hendrix arrived early that afternoon, and all of those insured on their road by Farm Bureau were taken care of quickly. Checks for structure damage were issued to the Shorts and Louie’s girlfriend by the end of the week.

“The insurance was the easiest thing we had to deal with,” Kevin said. Neighbors insured by other companies weren’t so fortunate.

“We felt so bad for them,” Kevin said. “It took 90 days for some to come to some sort of agreement with their insurance company. And it was sad, because they weren’t happy with the agreement. In a situation like this that’s the last thing you want to see.”

“We were kind of feeling guilty,” Kerry said. “Here we are building new, and they’re trying to put their (damaged) houses back together again. We were as happy as they were when they finally just knocked it down and started rebuilding.”

The Shorts realize that losing a house is a major deal. They completely understand it having gone through it themselves. But they also realize all too well that there are bigger things to lose that can’t be rebuilt or retrieved. They are most thankful for the things beyond mere stuff still with them.

“I’m not worried about stuff,” Kevin reiterated. “It’s just stuff.”

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C O M M I C O M M C O M P A

T M E N T U N I T Y S S I O N

2014 Board of Directors Front Row (l to r): Josh Cureton, vice chairman, YF&R Committee, Cash (Craighead Co.); Brent Lassiter, chairman, YF&R Committee, Newport (Jackson Co.); Joe Christian, secretary/treasurer, Jonesboro (Craighead Co.); Rich Hillman, vice president, Carlisle (Lonoke Co.); Randy Veach, president, Manila (Mississippi Co.); Rodney Baker, executive vice president, Little Rock (Pulaski Co.); and Janice Marsh, chairwoman, Women’s Committee, McCrory (Woodruff Co.).

Second Row: Rusty Smith, Des Arc (Prairie Co.); Terry Dabbs, Stuttgart (Arkansas Co.); Tom Jones, Pottsville (Pope Co.); Leo Sutterfield, Mountain View (Stone Co.); Joe Thrash, Conway (Faulkner Co.); and Allen Stewart, Mena (Polk Co.).

Back Row: Mike Freeze, Keo (Lonoke Co.); Gene Pharr, Lincoln (Washington Co.); Bruce Jackson, Lockesburg (Sevier Co.); Jon Carroll, Moro (Monroe Co.); Johnny Loftin, El Dorado (Union Co.); Troy Buck, Alpine (Clark Co.); and Sherry Felts, Joiner (Mississippi Co.).

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2014 ANNUAL REPORT WORDS Gregg Patterson Steve Eddington PHOTOS Keith Sutton DESIGN Chris Wilson

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