6 minute read
Federation Honors Wysner For Service To Agriculture
Former Central Area Vice President Dean Wysner will receive the Alabama Farmers Federation’s highest honor, the Service To Agriculture Award, Dec. 5.
By Marlee Moore
Dean Wysner spent two decades crisscrossing the Alabama Farmers Federation’s Central Area, breaking bread with producers and bringing their beliefs back to the organization’s state board.
That commitment earned Wysner the Service To Agriculture Award, the organization’s highest honor. He’ll receive the award during the Federation’s 101st annual meeting in Montgomery Dec. 5.
“This is a great honor for me and my family,” said Wysner, 76. “It’s probably as big an honor as I’ve ever received. The people I served did much more for me than I ever did for them.”
Wysner, a Randolph County poultry and cattle farmer, was first elected Central Area vice president in 1999. Wysner took a hands-on approach to the role, making it a priority to visit each of his 17 counties at least three times annually to provide in-depth reports on Alfa Insurance, political races and pressing agricultural issues.
“I wanted my counties to be informed,” he said. “But I never told them we were going to do something. I asked what they wanted us to do.”
Wysner’s late wife, Angie, was his traveling companion, often joining him for visits like the 12-hour round-trip journey from their Woodland home near the Georgia line to Mississippi border counties. Angie died in January.
“I wanted us to be at every meeting when the first person showed up,” Wysner said. “I met a lot of good people all over the state. The Federation is just a big family.”
Federation President Jimmy Parnell served with Wysner on the state board as a district director in the early 2000s before Parnell was elected president in 2012. The Chilton County logger and cattle farmer said he is proud to call Wysner his friend.
“Dean’s deep desire to spend time with our people changed our vice presidents’ approach to serving members,” Parnell said. “We cannot overemphasize the amount of time he and Angie spent on the road traveling to be with their fellow farmers. Their service and love for this organization is still felt today, and we are pleased to honor Dean with this award.”
The son of a sharecropper, Wysner helped his father tend cotton and corn
Wysner enjoys spending time on his farm near Woodland with his grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, like Easton Adair.
Clockwise from right: The Wysner family knows the importance of family time and often gathers to celebrate milestones; during his tenure leading Alabama, Gov. Bob Riley selected Dean Wysner to serve on national committees, where he eventually testified before Congress on agricultural issues; Dean and Angie Wysner had three children, Deana, Chad and Lori; the Wysners were married for more than 50 years and built a network of close friends and family within the Alabama Farmers Federation.
with mule-drawn machinery when he was 12 years old. After Wysner’s two years in the U.S. Army and work in the textile industry, he and Angie built commercial layer hen houses.
Wysner’s Federation foundation was laid when he revived the local Young Farmers program in the early ‘70s. Subsequent leadership training and a desire to solve problems evolved into serving in every official capacity on the Randolph County Farmers Federation (RCFF) board.
Two nine-year stints on the State Beef Committee fortified Wysner’s network of farmer-friends and grew his involvement.
“I’ve always had a yearning to be part of the decision-making philosophy,” said Wysner, who testified nationally before Congress on agricultural issues and served on advisory and policy committees for the Federation. “If we have a problem, I want to solve the problem.”
During his tenure as vice president, Wysner was a stalwart champion of Federation members and staff. He also helped build the framework for the Federation to rejoin the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), a multi-year process completed in 2004.
“That was the biggest achievement we had while I served,” he said. “After we rejoined, we were able to share our philosophy with other states and make AFBF stronger.”
Wysner, who retired from the commercial layer hen business, still raises cattle and spends time with his daughter, Deana; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. He and Angie lost daughter Lori to leukemia in 1996; their son, Chad, died from cancer in 2016.
He’s still serving farmers, too, as RCFF president and a member of local boards.
“I’m still involved for the same reason I got started. The Federation is the group that makes decisions as far as agriculture goes,” he said. “My part has changed, but I still want to be a part. It’s the best ag organization in the state without a doubt. We do more for agriculture than anyone else, and I’m proud to be part of that.”
Bird Is The Word: Poultry Technology Helps Farmers Grow
By Maggie Edwards
In a joint effort among the Alabama Farmers Federation, Alabama Poultry & Egg Association (APEA) and National Poultry Technology Center (NPTC), almost 50 poultry growers stepped away from the farm and gathered in Auburn Oct. 25 to fine-tune tricks of the trade.
Larry Upchurch, a Clay County poultry farmer, said he learned the importance of generator care and upkeep during the day-long session at NPTC’s demonstration chicken house.
“During the generator care demonstration, I learned the value of having someone other than myself trained to manage the farm and equipment so I can rest easy when I’m away from home,” Upchurch said.
The meeting’s major focus was to encourage producers to understand, analyze and prepare their equipment — and teach cost-effective methods to help farmers stay in business.
“We learned about the importance of checking water panels, fans and heaters,” said poultry producer Jeff Maze, the Blount County Farmers Federation president. “Things must work the way they are intended to. If a heater is not burning efficiently, we are still paying the same amount of money for the gas brought into the house, but we are not getting the same output. That costs us money.”
Poultry farmers from across the state gathered in Auburn at the National Poultry Technology Center (NPTC) Oct. 25 for a producer training session hosted by the Alabama Farmers Federation, Alabama Poultry & Egg Association and NPTC.
The seasonal training allows poultry farmers to learn from and interact with industry professionals through hands-on experiences.
“Ultimately, we just want to give that chicken the best care we can give it while utilizing cost-effective methods,” Maze said. “There is always something new in the poultry industry, so I’m thankful NPTC strives to help us and our bottom line.”
New and seasoned farmers found value in techniques taught by NPTC staff and APEA’s Ray Hilburn. Topics included efficiency when using fans, heaters, water, electricity and composting.
These topics are critical for farmers such as Maze and Upchurch. Alabama’s poultry industry has a $15 billion annual economic impact and ranks second in the nation in broiler, or meat chicken, production.
“We might know these things, but sometimes we need a reminder,” Upchurch said. “It’s good to brush up on things and take them back home to share. We are fortunate to have events like this in our state.”
Clockwise from left: Crenshaw County Farmers Federation President Tony Beck, Blount County Farmers Federation President Jeff Maze and other growers practiced checking fan rotations per minute to ensure efficiency; NPTC’s Jeremiah Davis shared information about heater systems with farmers such as Larry Upchurch of Clay County; APEA’s Ray Hilburn focused on composting during his presentation.
