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Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation
Agricultural News and Information
Greg Gibson, Coordinator
Public Relations / Multimedia
1-800-227-8244 ext. 4154
or 601-977-4154
email: ggibson@msfb.org
Farm Bureau President David Waide will not seek re-election in December
JACKSON - Long-time Mississippi Farm Bureau President David Waide has announced that he will not run for an eighth term as leader of the state's largest general farm organization. Waide, a Clay County row crop and cattle producer, was first elected in December of 1996 and is in his seventh two-year term guiding the powerful agricultural organization.
"The
decision has been a very difficult one, but I believe my decision is in
the best interest of the Farm Bureau organization," Waide said. "I
came to this conclusion because 2011 is a statewide election year and
there will be a new legislature seated in the year 2012. In addition,
the next two years will be critical in getting the preliminary work completed
to write a new farm bill. It is not in the best interest of the Farm Bureau
membership to wait and elect a new president in December 2012 with a new
Mississippi legislature having just taken office in January 2012. The
newly elected officials of Mississippi, combined with the pressure of
writing a farm bill, would be extremely demanding on a new president."
Under Waide's leadership, Farm Bureau has continued to be a significant force in the Mississippi Legislature securing funding for agricultural research and extension to help the farmers of this state. Cotton's number one pest, the boll weevil, has recently been eradicated from Mississippi with Waide and Farm Bureau helping secure funding that allowed it to happen.
Other major areas of interest included supporting research that encourages the use biomass crops as a source of alternative energy, and protection of animal production practices for livestock farmers.
But one of the most significant events occurring under Waide's leadership was the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Agriculture suffered hundreds of millions of dollars of losses from the 2005 storm that struck Mississippi. Farm Bureau was instrumental in securing and delivering fuel, hay, approximately 50,000 fence posts, and 4,000 rolls of wire. The Federation also coordinated work crews and established a disaster relief fund, which raised over $520,000 to assist producer-members impacted by the hurricane.
"It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as president of Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation and to have the utmost cooperation of all the member counties and volunteer leaders," said Waide. "I do think we have moved the Farm Bureau to a different level in policy implementation, not because of anything I have done but because of the willingness of all county Farm Bureaus to be involved and the volunteer leaders’ commitment to achieve the goals that were set by the organization."
Farm Bureau will elect the ninth president to lead the organization at
the business session of the next annual meeting on December 6, 2010.
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