Secretary
of Agriculture Sonny Perdue recently appointed three members and three
alternates to serve on the National Peanut Board. The appointees will serve
three-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2020 and ending Dec. 31, 2022; except for
the alternate from South Carolina whose term will begin immediately and end
Dec. 31, 2021. The members and alternates will be sworn in by USDA at the
quarterly National Peanut Board meeting Dec. 11, 2019.
Gregory Baltz of
Pocahontas is the newly-appointed member from Arkansas.
Baltz operates Running Lake Farms and has been growing peanuts for nine years.
He farms runner peanuts, rice, corn and soybeans. “It’s an exciting time to be
growing peanuts in Arkansas,” said Baltz. “With challenging opportunities for
the industry ahead, I’m honored to represent our growers in these endeavors.
“I look forward to serving on
the National Peanut Board and collaborating with the members and staff, who are some of
the most talented and knowledgeable people in agriculture. I also look forward
to engaging university research specialists in developing solutions to today’s
most challenging peanut issues. And I am
keenly interested in advancing the science behind reducing peanut allergies,”
Baltz and his wife Mary Nell
have been married for 41 years and have three married children pursuing their
own careers: Lewis, a geologist; Clinton, a mechanical engineer; and Angela, a
biomedical engineer.
Baltz graduated from
University of Arkansas with a degree in agricultural engineering. He serves on
the University of Arkansas College of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council, as
well as the Division of Agriculture Rice Processing Program. He is a current
member and former county president of Farm Bureau, and past president of the
University of Arkansas Academy of Biological and Agricultural Engineers. Baltz
is a former executive officer and member of the Board of Directors of the
Knights of Columbus. He is a member of Black River Technical College Ag
Advisory Committee. In his spare time, Baltz and Mary Nell enjoy traveling.
Allen Donner of Manila is the newly-appointed
Arkansas alternate.
Donner owns/operates Blackwater Farms Partnership and grows high oleic runner
peanuts, cotton, soybeans and corn. Donner and his son, Heath, mark the fourth
and fifth generations, respectively, of farmers in their family. Donner is a
graduate of Manila High School and studied agronomy at University of Arkansas
and Arkansas State University.
Donner is active in the local
agriculture community. He is the current president of
three organizations: Arkansas Peanut Growers Association; Cotton Growers Gin,
on which he has served for 27 years; and NE Arkansas Area Conservation
District. Donner is past president of Mississippi County Conservation District
Board, past board member of Mississippi County Farm Bureau, and currently
serves on an advisory committee for Staplcotn Coop. Donner also volunteers his time for community groups
including serving on Manila Public Schools Board of
Education for 15 years with five years as president. He also serves as deacon
at Manila First Baptist Church and as past chairman multiple years. He’s on the
board of trustees for the Arkansas State Baptist Convention.
Donner
and his wife Debbie, a school teacher, have two grown children in addition to
Heath who is married to Melissa: Adam and daughter-in-law Ashley; and Katie
(Evans) and son-in-law Kyle. They also have six grandchildren, Madison,
Caitlin, Zeke, Easton, Jack and Kane, and are expecting their seventh, Josie,
in November. In his free time, Donner enjoys water sports including skiing and
wakeboarding at the nearby lake.
“Arkansas
is one of the newest states to grow peanuts and our first peanut buying point
is expected to open early next year,” said Donner. About serving on the
National Peanut Board, Donner said, “I want to learn more about the peanut
industry as a whole, to understand more about how the Board benefits farmers
and to be able to bring that back to the growers at home.”
Bruce
Lee of Floyd is the newly-appointed member for New Mexico.
Bruce Lee, who is
a sixth-generation farmer, is the owner/operator of Home Grown Organic Farms.
Even though he has been a full-time farmer growing a variety of crops for 36
years, he started growing organic peanuts, corn, wheat, sorghum and hay grazer
three years ago. He is in the livestock business also.
Lee is a member of the New Mexico
Peanut Growers Association and past member of the Lions Club, where he served
as president and program chairman of the Benefit Amateur Country/Western Show.
He has been a volunteer firefighter for more than 30 years.
Lee has been a longtime member of the
Maple Cotton Coop/Gin and served on the nominating committee of the Roosevelt
Electrical Association. In the early 1990s, Lee received an award for soil
conservation from USDA’s Soil Conservation Department for planting trees for
windbreaks.
Lee and his wife Tina, a teacher at
South Plains College, have three children: Rebecca who is a freshman at South
Plains College, and twins Mckenzie and Lexi.
“I’m looking forward to being on the National Peanut Board to help the peanut
crop stay vital in New Mexico,” said Lee. “Farming in New Mexico has had its
set of challenges over the past few years, and I hope to learn from other
farmers about how to keep peanuts strong in our area and grow them efficiently
and economically.”
Les Crall of Weatherford is the reappointed member
for Oklahoma.
Les
Crall has been in peanut farming for 24 years and currently serves on the
executive committee of the National Peanut Board. Also, he serves as chairman
of the Oklahoma Peanut Commission and a former member of the Peanut Standards
Board.
Crall earned an undergraduate degree in Accounting
and a Master of Business Administration from Southwestern Oklahoma State
University (SWOSU) and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Oklahoma.
As a member of the SWOSU faculty for 29 years, Crall served as associate
dean of the Everett Dobson School of Business & Technology and in 2018, he
received the SWOSU Alumni Association Emeritus Award.
Les
and his wife Laurie have one daughter, Carlie. The Cralls’ primary farming
enterprises are growing peanuts, corn, cotton, wheat, hay and maintaining a
cow/calf operation. Crall is the past president of the Weatherford Rotary Club,
past-president of the Weatherford Chamber of Commerce and a Paul Harris Fellow.
Les and Laurie are members of First Baptist Church of Weatherford. Les
enjoys spending time with family and friends. He also provides the radio
broadcast commentary for the Southwestern Oklahoma State University Bulldogs
football team and has been the public address announcer during the basketball
season for nearly three decades.
Gayle White of Frederick is the
reappointed Oklahoma alternate.
Gayle White is the co-owner/operator of
White Farm and Ranch with her husband, Joe D., and has been engaged in peanut
production for 32 years. The White family grow Virginia peanuts, cotton, corn
and wheat, and have an Angus cow/calf operation.
White
is a past chairman of the National Peanut Board and was a Board member of the
American Peanut Council for three years.
“Through
years of serving my fellow peanut farmers on the National Peanut Board, I
enjoyed participating in many effective peanut promotional campaigns,” said
White. “I was
involved with the allergy research for several years. I'm still very interested
in and proud of the incredible achievements NPB has helped make possible.”
White has served as president of the Tillman County Farm Bureau Women’s
Committee, president of Ag Boosters and publicity chair of the Tillman County
Junior Livestock Show board of directors. She has served on the board of
directors for the Oklahoma City Sirloin Club and the Resolutions Committee of
the Tillman County Farm Bureau.
The Whites have three married children and four
grandchildren: Jessica (White) and Justin Lewis have a daughter, Parker, 5, and
a son, Asa, three months; Whitney (White) and Brandon Bell have two girls,
Barrett, 5, and Briar, 3. Austin White
recently married Allie, who is in her first year of residency in family
medicine, while Austin has a farming and ranching operation.
Steven Neal Baxley
Jr. of Alcolu is the newly appointed South Carolina alternate.
Neal Baxley Jr. is a seventh-generation
farmer and, along with his father Steve and brother Gene Robert, owns and
operates Baxley Farms LLC. They grow peanuts, corn, cotton, soybeans, and
tobacco and have a cattle and hog operation.
Baxley graduated from The Citadel
with a Bachelor of Science in civil and environmental engineering. He and his
wife Amanda have three daughters: Madison Kate, Myra Elizabeth and Magnolia
Grace.
Baxley is involved in a
number of industry and professional organizations. He is the current president of
the Marion County Farm Bureau and current member of the South Carolina Peanut
Board, South Carolina Farm Bureau State Board and South Carolina Pork Board, in
addition to serving as past-chairman of the Tobacco Advisory Committee for
the American Farm Bureau Federation, past-chairman of the South Carolina
Department of Agriculture Tobacco Board, past-chairman of the Marion County
Farm Service Agency County Committee and past-chairman of the South Carolina
Farm Bureau Young Farmer & Rancher Committee.
He serves as a deacon at
Mullins Presbyterian Church. His spare time activities include spending time
with his wife and children, participating in church activities and going quail
hunting.
