OFB establishes political agriculture fund
Saying it was time to step up and strongly support friends of agriculture, delegates at the Oklahoma Farm Bureau annual meeting voted to establish a political action fund.
The delegate action occurred during the farm group’s 61st annual meeting, Nov. 9-11 in Oklahoma City.
Carefully avoiding the term “political action committee”, Farm Bureau members said they wanted to elect legislative leaders who understand agriculture without getting mired in the negative connotations of a PAC. Officially the committee is referred to as the OK Ag Fund.
“Shrinking rural populations combined with legislative term limits have set the stage for possible erosion of the farm vote,” said Steve Kouplen, Oklahoma Farm Bureau president. “The Ag Fund will be a completely voluntary action, controlled by county Farm Bureau leaders.”
Other critical issues receiving delegate attention included water rights. Prompted by the proposed sale of water to Texas and the formation of a water compact during the last legislative session, Farm Bureau members said they support more in-depth studies before selling water out of state.
Citing the worst drought in the history of the state for much of western Oklahoma, delegates unanimously approved support for federal disaster assistance for the 2001 and 2002 crop years.
In addition to the business session, Farm Bureau members elected additional leaders to serve their organization and handed out a variety of annual awards.
Former Oklahoma Governor Henry Bellmon received the Distinguished Service to Agriculture award and Henry Jo VonTungeln was awarded the Distinguished Service to Farm Bureau plaque. These are the two highest individual honors presented by Farm Bureau.
Davis farmer-rancher Bob Drake, Ervin Mitchell, Balko and Scott Dvorak, Perry, were elected to three-year terms on the Oklahoma Farm Bureau board of directors. Major County’s Clara Wichert was elected chairman of the state Farm Bureau Women’s Committee, and Judy Anglin, Enid, won her first term on the committee as district seven representative. Nancy Bennett of Beaver and Georgia Doye of Lawton were re-elected to district posts on
the committee.
Kenneth and Sue Fellers, Byron, were named Farm Family of the Year and Keeff Felty, Altus, won the Young Farmer and Rancher Achievement Award. Audrey Harmon, Yukon, won the Young Farmer and Rancher discussion contest. Alfalfa County Farm Bureau won the John I. Taylor Award which recognizes the top county Farm Bureau in the state, as well as OFB’s builder’s designation, the Lewis Munn Award.
Dvorak is re-elected to OFB state board
Scott Dvorak, a Noble County farmer and rancher, was re-elected to a three-year term on the board of directors of Oklahoma Farm Bureau Nov. 10, 2002.
Voting delegates to the 61st annual Oklahoma Farm Bureau meeting at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City re-elected Dvorak to the district seven board position he first won on Nov. 17, 1996.
District seven encompasses Woods, Alfalfa, Grant, Kay, Major, Garfield and Noble counties in north central Oklahoma.
Dvorak resides on Route 2 near Perry. He grew up in Perry and graduated high school there in 1974.
Since graduating from Oklahoma State University in 1978 with a degree in agronomy, he his been farming and ranching. He has a diversified operation, with wheat and milo, stocker cattle and a cow-calf herd.
Dvorak has been a Farm Bureau member 25 years, and served on the Noble County board of directors and was president for three years. He also served on the Noble County ASCS Committee and was its chairman for several terms.
In 1991, Dvorak was named the Jaycees Outstanding Young Farmer of Oklahoma.
He and his wife, Carol, have three children, Joe, 20, Allison, 18, and Justin, 13.
The family is active in the St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church. Dvorak has served on the church board and has been an Eucharistic minister.
Oklahoma Farm Bureau is a voluntary agricultural organization. More than 144,000 families in Oklahoma belong to Farm Bureau.
Bob Drake is elected to OFB state board
Davis farmer-rancher Bob Drake was elected to a three-year term on the Oklahoma Farm Bureau board of directors Nov. 10, 2002.
Voting delegates to the 61st annual Oklahoma Farm Bureau meeting at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City elected Drake to the district four board position. He was appointed to the Oklahoma Farm Bureau board of directors May 16 following the resignation of Indiahoma farmer-rancher Orville Emmons.
District four encompasses Comanche, Cotton, Stephens, Jefferson, Murray, Carter, Love, Johnston and Marshall counties.
Drake, who has been an officer on the Murray County Farm Bureau board of directors since 1963, and his brother, Tom, have owned and operated Drake Farms in Murray County since 1964, succeeding their father who established it in 1941. Drake’s son, Tom, now is involved in the family corporation that operates one of Oklahoma’s most prominent Angus ranches.
The 63-year-old rancher has held prominent leadership roles in many agricultural-related organizations.
He served as president of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association and was president of the National Cattlemen’s Association in 1995.
Drake currently serves as chairman of the National Grazinglands Association, a national concern that provides technical assistance to producers with grazing land concerns. He also sits as chairman of Oklahoma’s International Trade Development Council and recently was named co-chairman of the state’s Eastern Red Cedar task Force.
Drake and his wife, Kay, who is a homemaker, attend the First United Methodist Church in Davis. They have two adult children, Joe, 40, and Whitney Drake, 38, who is an attorney in California. He is a military veteran, serving six years in the U.S. Army after completing his bachelor’s degree in business management and finance from the University of Oklahoma in 1961.
Oklahoma Farm Bureau is a voluntary agricultural organization. More than 144,000 families in Oklahoma belong to Farm Bureau.
Alfalfa County couple wins Farm Family of the Year
Alfalfa County’s Kenneth and Carolyn Fellers were named Oklahoma Farm Bureau Farm Family of the Year Nov. 10 at the 61st annual state meeting in Oklahoma City.
A panel of judges selected the Byron family from 17 entries in the annual contest, which honors the farm family who best represents farming and ranching and the spirit of Oklahoma agriculture.
They received use of a new Dodge pickup for a year, an expense-paid trip to the American Farm Bureau Federation meeting in Tampa, Fla., and other gifts in recognition of their accomplishments.
The couple has two adult children, Dr. John Fellers and Karen Howell.
Kenneth has dedicated his lifetime to farming, growing up on a family farm homesteaded by his great grandfather. Carolyn has been involved ever since the couple was married, some 39 years ago.
“We will always be and always have been a part of the land,” said the 2002 winners. “We are farmers – a choice that we are glad that we made.”
The operation Kenneth grew up on was a dairy with wheat, corn and alfalfa crops as well as a cow-calf and feeder operation. When he finished college, he returned to the farm and entered into a partnership with his father. The operation grew with leased land. The dairy operation was sold in 1978 and the beef business was expanded with the addition of two
feedlots.
Today, the family cooperation owns 4,600 acres. Some 3,000 acres are cropland for wheat, alfalfa, Bermuda hay and sorghum. Two pivot systems are used to irrigate feed crops. Native and improved pastures make up the balance of the operation, which runs a 160-head cow herd and runs about 1,200 feeders on wheat pasture and summer grass.
“We have reached our goals of owning the land, maintaining a low debt-to-income ratio in the overall profitability of the operation,” they said. To accomplish that goal, they have maintained profitability and increased their equity by increasing labor efficiency and being vigilant in maintaining their equipment.
Kenneth serves as president of the family farm corporation, managing the entire operation including marketing crops and livestock and providing much of the labor involved in the farm work. Carolyn serves as the bookkeeper for the farm.
Both are long-time Farm Bureau members. He has served on the county’s resolutions committee and she has been active on the county’s Women Committee.
Kenneth and Carolyn have been honored as Honorary Chapter Farmers by the local FFA. He has served several years on the fair board and is a past member on the local cooperative board. He currently serves as chairman of the board of directors for a local bank.
Carolyn is president of the local FFA Mother’s Club, the music director at her church and serves on the board of trustees for the Oklahoma Homes for Children.
“Farm for us is not a job or occupation, but a way of life,” said the 2002 winning couple, “one that keeps changing and evolving, but at the same time remaining constant in that the farm will always require hard work and careful management of time and money. “We have always tried to be careful stewards of the gifts and responsibilities the Lord has given us. There is no greater place on earth to see nature at work, enjoys the results of your labor or to raise a family. We are proud to be the provider of
food for many and a sure and steady part of humanity.”
Jackson County man wins YF&R Achievement Award
Jackson County’s Keeff Felty was named Oklahoma Farm Bureau YF&R Achievement Award winner Nov. 10 at the 61st annual meeting in Oklahoma City.
The YF&R Achievement Award honors the state’s top young farmer or farm family. A panel of judges selected the Altus farmer for the award.
He received an expense-paid trip to the 2003 American Farm Bureau convention in Tampa, Fla., to represent Oklahoma in the national contest where he will compete for Dodge pickups and Arctic Cat four-wheelers. As the Oklahoma winner, Felty received a year’s use of a Dodge pickup and the use of a Kubota tractor.
The 35-year-old Felty has been in farming and ranching for 17 years. He is the fourth generation of his family to farm in the area. He now is involved with the operation of some 4,295 acres in a corporate family partnership and individual operation. He is a partner with his grandmother and stepmother in Felty Farms, but is the sole stockholder in K.D. Cotton Farms.
The operation is located in Jackson County and features both dryland and irrigated cotton along with wheat and wheat hay production. A 54-head cattle herd also is maintained. “Over the years I have seen a steady increase in the financial health of the operation. This is due to hard work, dedication,
faith and good fortune,” said Felty, who earned both bachelor and master degrees in agricultural economics from Oklahoma State University.
“The future holds many interesting and exciting challenges. It is my plan to continue to improve and adopt new technologies and practices that will increase my ability to have a profitable operation, to remain competitive and continue to grow.”
In the farming partnership, Felty is responsible for making decisions regarding all areas including banking, management, personnel, marketing, planting, harvesting and participation in government programs.
He also engages in various custom farming operations, such as plowing, planting and field preparation. In addition, he operates a custom cotton module hauling business during cotton harvest.
Felty says the biggest change on the operation has been the use of computers for bookkeeping, allowing the farm to maintain a better handle on the financial health of the business while reducing the need for a full-time accountant.
“I evaluate the management of the operation based on the total performance. . .it is important to look at efficiency, production, cost, profitability and progress. The future holds many interesting and exciting challenges. It is my plan to continue to improve and adopt new technologies and practices that will increase my ability to have a profitable operation, to remain competitive and continue to grow.”
While the operation of the farm is a full-time business, Felty has been actively involved in Farm Bureau for a number of years. He began on the county YF&R Committee and later served on the state committee as both a member and chairman.
He now serves on the Jackson County Farm Bureau board of directors, where he sits as president.
Felty also belongs to the Oklahoma Cotton Improvement Association and the National Cotton Council.
Nancy Bennett is re-elected to state FBW Committee
Nancy Bennett of Beaver was re-elected to the district one committeewoman position on the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Women’s Committee Nov. 9, 2002.
Women’s Committee delegates caucusing during the 61st annual Oklahoma Farm Bureau meeting at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma selected Mrs. Bennett to serve her third three-year term. She was first elected tot he committee on Nov. 19, 1996.
District one encompasses Cimarron, Texas, Beaver, Harper, Ellis, Dewey and Woodward counties in the panhandle and extreme northwestern Oklahoma.
Mrs. Bennett has served on the Beaver County Farm Bureau Women’s Committee since 1977.
She and her husband, Daryl, operate a wheat farm and cattle ranch in Beaver County.
The couple has three sons, Larry, Jerald and Zane.
Mrs. Bennett helps her husband with his responsibilities on the Oklahoma Mineral Owner’s Committee.
Georgia Doye is re-elected to state FBW Committee
Georgia Doye of Comanche County was re-elected to the district four committeewoman position on the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Women’s Committee Nov. 9, 2002.
Women’s Committee delegates caucusing during the 61st the annual Oklahoma Farm Bureau meeting at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City selected Mrs. Doye for her third three-year term. She was first elected Nov. 18, 1996.
She has been active on the Comanche County Farm Bureau Women’s Committee for more than 20 years. In addition to her responsibilities there, she regularly visits her community’s nursing home residents.
District four encompasses Comanche, Cotton, Stephens, Jefferson, Love, Carter, Murray and Johnston counties in south central Oklahoma.
Mrs. Doye and her husband, Damon, who serves on the Comanche County Farm Bureau board of directors, have a diversified farming operation in the rural Lawton area.
The couple has four adult children, Dr. Damona Doye, Cecilia Fuhrmanea, Bernadine Metzinger and Thad Doye.
Clara Wichert is elected state FBW chairman
Clara Wichert of Major County elected as chairman of Oklahoma Farm Bureau Women’s Committee Nov. 9, 2002.
Women’s Committee delegates caucusing during the 61st annual Oklahoma Farm Bureau meeting at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma selected Mrs. Wichert for a two-year term as chairman of the committee. The delegates picked Mrs. Wichert in the election for the position, where she successfully challenged Beverly Delmedico of Muskogee. Mrs. Delmedico had served as chairman of the committee
since November 1998.
She was first elected to the state committee on Nov. 17, 1996, and served as district seven representative.
She also has served as vice chairman of the state committee.
Mrs. Wichert, who resides at Fairview, has served on the Major County Farm Bureau Women’s Committee for many years. She is very active in her local church, where she has served as Christian education director.
She also is a survivor of breast cancer, and worked with Oklahoma First Lady Cathy Keating on a portrait of breast cancer.
She and her son, Jeff, operate the family’s farm in rural Major County. She also has another son, Rex.
Oklahoma Farm Bureau is a voluntary agricultural organization. More than 144,000 families in Oklahoma belong to Farm Bureau.
Enid’s Judy Anglin is elected to state FBW Committee
Judy Anglin of Garfield County was elected to the district seven committeewoman position on the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Women’s Committee Nov. 9, 2001.
She succeeds Clara Wichert of Fairview, who was elected chairman of the state FBW.
Women’s Committee delegates caucusing during the 61stth annual Oklahoma Farm Bureau meeting at the Cox Convention Center selected Mrs. Anglin to serve a three-year term.
District seven encompasses Woods, Major, Alfalfa, Garfield, Grant, Kay and Noble counties in northwestern Oklahoma.
Mrs. Anglin, who resides near Enid, has served on the Garfield County Farm Bureau Women’s Committee for 12 years and has been the chairman for nine years. She serves with the local Habitat for Humanity and Enid’s Hope Outreach, a ministry program.
She and her husband, J Elmer, who serves on the Garfield County Farm Bureau board of directors, have a cow-calf operation and also grow wheat and some hay.
Mrs. Anglin likes needlework along with gardening and canning.
Oklahoma Farm Bureau is a voluntary agricultural organization. More than 144,000 families in Oklahoma belong to Farm Bureau.
Kenneth Failes earns crop advisor honors
Cherokee’s Kenneth Failes was named Oklahoma Farm Bureau 2002 Excellence in Crop Advising Award winner during the organization’s 61st annual meeting in Oklahoma City.
Failes, who was nominated by Alfalfa County Farm Bureau, received a plaque and trip to the American Farm Bureau Federation during the Nov. 10 awards and recognition program held in the Cox Convention Center.
He will represent Oklahoma in the national contest at the AFBF meeting in Tampa, Fla., where the nation’s top crop advisor will be announced.
Failes is employed by the Burlington Cooperative Association and was one of the 13 out of 67 to pass the Oklahoma Certified Crop Advisor exam the first year it was administered.
The emphasis of his job with the cooperative is service to members. Alfalfa County Farm Bureau praised him, saying his ultimate goal is “to increase producer profitability based on the philosophy that if it is not good for the producer it is not good for the coop.”
Failes annually takes soil samples on farms encompassing 80 percent of the area land in production. He also scouts area producers’ fields for insects, weeds, diseases and other production problems on 80,000 acres of wheat. He performs similar duties on some 12,000 acres of alfalfa as well as pastures, sunflowers, corn and soybeans.
“Kenneth not only applies his knowledge at work but also is active in researching new pesticides and crop varieties to try to make production agriculture more profitable for the farmer,” said the Alfalfa County Farm Bureau.
Failes also is involved with introducing optical precision sensing technology to farmers in the area. It is a machine that uses light sensors and reads the correct amount of fertilizer for optimum yields.
Failes and his wife, Marcia, have been married for 34 years and have four children and three grandsons. His wife is a special education teacher at Cherokee and also teaches college classes at Northwestern Oklahoma State University during the summers.
“Kenneth Failes knowledge, application of such, participation, initiative, foresight and all around interest show us he is truly qualified and duly deserving of the 2002 Excellence in Crop Advising Award. We,” said Alfalfa County’s nomination form, “are proud to call Kenneth a good friend, neighbor and co-worker on our farms.”
Ervin Mitchell is elected to OFB state board
Beaver County farmer-rancher Ervin Mitchell was elected to a three-year term on the board of directors of Oklahoma Farm Bureau Nov. 10, 2002.
Voting delegates to the 61st annual Oklahoma Farm Bureau meeting at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City elected Mitchell to the district one position. He succeeds former district director Joe Mayer of Guymon, who had served since 1993 and could not seek re-election due to organizational term limits.
District one encompasses Cimarron, Texas, Beaver, Harper, Ellis, Woodward and Dewey counties in the panhandle and extreme northwestern Oklahoma.
A resident of rural Balko, Mitchell and his son, Doug, run a 4,000-acre operation with dryland and irrigated wheat, milo, alfalfa and corn. They also run stockers and have a cow-calf herd. He began farming in 1947 after serving 18 months in the U.S. Air Force during World War II.
Mitchell, a member of Farm Bureau since 1950, has served four years on the Beaver County Farm Bureau board of directors and served one term as county president.
He has served 18 years on the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, three years as president of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts, one term as president of the Oklahoma Association of School Boards and 15 years on his local school board.
Mitchell and his wife, Emma, were Oklahoma Farm Bureau’s Farm Family of the Year in 1983. The couple has three sons, David, who is an accountant; Doug, who farms with his father; and Dale, who is a farmer. Mrs. Mitchell serves as secretary of the Beaver County Farm Bureau Women’s Committee. Mitchell has been Sunday school superintendent of his church for 25 years and served nine years on
his church board.
Oklahoma Farm Bureau is a voluntary agricultural organization. More than 144,000 families in Oklahoma belong to Farm Bureau.
Bellmon, VonTungeln are recognized
with ’02 Distinguished Service Awards
Oklahoma Farm Bureau honored two well-known Oklahomans during its 61st annual meeting Nov. 10 in Oklahoma City with Distinguished Service Awards.
The pair of awards is designed to honor those who have made outstanding contributions to Oklahoma agriculture and to Oklahoma Farm Bureau.
Oklahoma statesman Henry Bellmon and longtime Farm Bureau leader Henry Jo VonTungeln were honored in special ceremonies before the convention body.
Bellmon was presented with the Distinguished Service to Oklahoma Agriculture Award while VonTungeln received the Distinguished Service to Oklahoma Farm Bureau Award.
The 80-year-old Bellmon, Oklahoma’s first Republican governor and a two-term U.S. Senator, was a charter member and the first president of Noble County Farm Bureau. The warrior-turned-farmer helped organize the county after returning from a tour of duty in World War II with the Marines, where he won a Silver Star for valor on Iwo Jima.
Oklahoma’s elder statesman remains involved in public service today as director of the Oklahoma Alliance for Public Policy Research on the campus of Oklahoma State University, where he earned his college degree. He also is the first OSU alum to be governor of Oklahoma and remains involved in agriculture today, managing 1,800 acres of farmland with wheat and cattle.
In recent years, Bellmon has been a professor and lecturer at Oklahoma City University, the University of Central Oklahoma, the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University.
Following his service in the Marines, he pursued a career in politics and was elected a state representative, Noble County Republican chairman, state chairman of the Republican Party, governor in 1963 and then U.S. Senator.
When he returned to his farm after his first term as governor, Bellmon mounted a successful campaign for U.S. Senate and served 12 years in Washington and was a member of the powerful Agriculture, Budget, Appropriations and Energy Committees.
While serving in the Senate, Bellmon developed the concept of target pricing for commodities and was instrumental in writing two farm bills. He helped achieve his long-term goal of moving farm policy from one of strict government control to a flexible, market-driven program similar to today’s.
He was a strong advocate of voluntary conservation and a leading advocate to create and maintain a government funded non-point source management program at the conservation commission. Bellmon also helped change the
wheat grading system.
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Bellmon’s two terms as governor of Oklahoma were marked by integrity and governmental reform – as evidenced by the progress made in education, mental health and agriculture.
He was elected to his second term as governor in 1986, walking into a highly partisan financial quagmire. The state faced $350 million in revenue shortfalls and stood to lose some $200 million in federal highway matching funds unless Bellmon pushed through the state’s largest-ever tax increase. After a long, difficult fight a fiscal catastrophe was averted. Then came school reform and a nine-month struggle resulting in the passage of the $223
million Education Reform and Funding Act, commonly known as House Bill 1017.
That bill was the most sweeping reform in Oklahoma history and was one of the most aggressive reforms in the country at the time. Oklahoma became the first state to require fewer students per class and still leads the nation in class size reductions.
Before its passage, it wasn’t uncommon to find 35 to 40 students in elementary classrooms. The act required class size to drop to 20. It also raised average teacher salaries by $6,000, and the minimum rose nearly $10,000 over five years. It also instituted kindergarten and state academic standards.
“Henry Bellmon was always known for his immediate responsiveness to agricultural issues and the needs of farmers and ranchers,” said OFB Director Mike Spradling, introducing the 2002 Distinguished Service Winner.
When 71-year-old Henry Jo VonTungeln commits to something, he stays with it. He joined Farm Bureau years ago and has been a leader in his county and on the state level since.
The Calumet farmer, who represents the fifth generation of his family to till the soil in Canadian County, has 60 years invested in agriculture and 52 years invested in Farm Bureau.
His first involvement with Farm Bureau was with Junior Farm Bureau, now known as the Young Farmers and Ranchers. He served two years as state president of that group before being elected president of the Canadian County Farm Bureau – a post he has held for the past 46 years. VonTungeln also has competed seven years on the OFB board of directors, where he has served as secretary and treasurer.
He also serves on American Farm Bureau’s U.S.-Canada Trade Relations Committee. In addition, VonTungeln serves on the board of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, where he has been both vice chairman and chairman during his tenure. He also has served on U.S. Wheat Associates, and made several trade missions to Europe, Africa, South and Central America, Israel, Mexico and Canada.
In addition to his travels, he and his wife, Donna, have opened their home to hundreds of trade delegations, politicians and state leaders, and Farm Bureau leaders and staff in efforts to promote agriculture.
VonTungeln’s efforts on behalf of his industry have not gone unnoticed. He has been named a Master Agronomist by Oklahoma State University, the Progressive Farmer Man of the Year in Oklahoma Agriculture, the Distinguished Citizen by the Oklahoma Legislature, the Staff of Life Award winner by the Oklahoma Wheat Commission and most recently was inducted into the Oklahoma Agriculture Hall of Fame.
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Lt. Gov. Marry Fallin has described VonTungeln as the “most well known ambassador of agriculture in the state.”
The VonTungeln family is well known for culinary skills that they use regularly to promote wheat. Each year, they use over six tons of wheat flour to bake bread products for trade shows, dignitaries, fairs and civic events.
An active civic and church leader, VonTungeln initiated plans to create the Hesston Rural Water System and has served as his church’s chairman of the board and Sunday school superintendent for the past 25 years.
“Whenever you smell the wonderful aroma of fresh baked bread, you know that Henry Jo VonTungeln is not far away,” said Spradling as he introduced the 2002 winner.
