HOT SPRINGS — Randy Veach and Rich Hillman will continue as president and vice president, respectively, of Arkansas Farm Bureau following their re-election Friday. 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 (Mississippi Co.) begins a seventh term as president. He is Arkansas Farm Bureau’s 10th president since its creation in 1935. Veach farms cotton, soybeans, rice, wheat, corn and milo in and around the community of Lost Cane near Manila. He is a third-generation 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.”

Hillman, 51, hails from Carlisle (Lonoke Co.) and will begin his sixth 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,” Hillman said. 

The voting delegates re-elected five board members to new two-year terms. They include: Joe Christian, Jonesboro (Craighead Co.); Terry Dabbs, Stuttgart (Arkansas Co.); Tom Jones, Pottsville (Pope Co.); Rusty Smith, Des Arc, (Prairie Co.); and Leo Sutterfield, Mountain View (Stone Co.).

The new board members are Caleb Plyler of Hope (Hempstead Co.) and Dan Wright of Waldron (Scott Co.). 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.

Voting delegates also addressed a wide range of policy issues including positions on grain dealing and warehousing safeguards; protection of the interests of agriculture in the state water plan; additional funding for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and retention of the existing structure of the Division of Agriculture within the UA system; funding for Arkansas veterinary students at Mississippi State University; adequate and accessible rural Internet connectivity; and national policy addressing newly proposed drone regulations, including private airspace protection and exemptions for agriculture producers. 

Voting delegates also addressed a wide range of policy issues including positions on grain dealing and warehousing safeguards; protection of the interests of agriculture in the state water plan; additional funding for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and retention of the existing structure of the Division of Agriculture within the UA system; funding for Arkansas veterinary students at Mississippi State University; adequate and accessible rural Internet connectivity; and national policy addressing newly proposed drone regulations, including private airspace protection and exemptions for agriculture producers. 

Arkansas Farm Bureau is a nonprofit, private advocacy organization of more than 190,000 families throughout the state working to improve farm and rural life.