The Louisiana Farm Bureau is made up of volunteer leaders at the local, parish and statewide levels. Each parish has a parish Farm Bureau, with its own president and board members.
MEET OUR PRESIDENT:
Jim Harper
Jim Harper is the president of the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation; he was elected in 2020. Harper is a grain, crawfish and sugarcane farmer in Rapides Parish.
LEAD BY FARMERS
FOR FARMERS
Harper is one of a five-member executive committee, made up of the president, first, second and third vice presidents and a secretary-treasurer. Eleven other members, representing geographical districts, form the Louisiana Farm Bureau Board of Directors. All members of the board and executive committee are elected by voting delegates sent to the annual convention each summer to vote on policy recommendations submitted by the local parish Farm Bureaus. The chairs of the Women's Leadership Committee and the Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee serve on the state board of directors in an ex-officio capacity.
2022-2023 Louisiana Farm Bureau Board of Directors
President Jim Harper
1st Vice-President Marty Wooldridge
2nd Vice-President Scott Wiggers
3rd Vice-President Richard Fontenot
Secretary/Treasurer Mike Melancon
District I Board Member
Loyd Dodson
District I includes Caddo, Bossier, DeSoto, Red River, Sabine, Webster Claiborne and Bienville Parishes
District II Board Member Butch Oaks
District II includes Ouachita, Morehouse, Richland, Union, Caldwell, Lincoln and Jackson Parishes
District III Board Member
William Stutts
District III includes East Carroll, Franklin, Concordia, Madison, Tensas and West Carroll Parishes
District IV Board Member RYAN YERBY
District IV includes Rapides, Winn, LaSalle, Grant, Natchitoches and Catahoula Parishes
District V Board Member
Brian Churchman
District V includes Evangeline, Allen, Beauregard and Vernon Parishes
District VI Board Member joey Olivier
District VI includes Avoyelles, Pointe Coupee and St. Landry Parishes
District VII Board Member
James “Bozo” Cox
District VII includes Acadia, Jeff Davis, Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes
District VIII Allen McLain
District VIII includes Vermilion, Lafayette, Iberia and St. Martin Parishes
District IX Board Member
John Thompson
District IX includes East Baton Rouge, East & West Feliciana, Livingston, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington Parishes
District X Board Member Matthew Gravois
District X includes Ascension, Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, Plaquemines, St. Charles, St. John and East & West St. James Parishes
District XI BOARD MEMBER
Bobby Simoneaux
District XI includes Assumption, Iberville, Lafourche, St. Mary, Terrebonne and West Baton Rouge Parishes
YOUNG FARMERS & RANCHERS CHAIR
ROBERT DUNCAN
Women's Leadership Committee Chair Michele Simoneaux
Farmers Know Best
Commodity Advisory Committees
By seeking farmer input on specific issues, the Louisiana Farm Bureau has built a strong grassroots infrastructure to take on matters important to agriculture.
Our organization has Commodity Advisory Committees that meet regularly to discuss issues and make recommendations for change. Every commodity is represented with an advisory committee—from rice to cotton to wheat, soybeans and corn. These committees draft policy and then present that policy to the 18-member Louisiana Farm Bureau Board of Directors. If it is an issue of national concern, the recommendations are forwarded to the American Farm Bureau, or in some cases, the issues are discussed directly with members of the state's congressional delegation. Each committee and their chairman are listed below.
Beekeepers: Warren Hoag
Coastal: Benson Langlinais
Cotton: Ben Guthrie
Crawfish: J.B. Hanks
Dairy: Susie Sharkey
Equine: John Bourdreaux
Forestry: Ricky Howard
Labor: Katie Sistrunk
Livestock: Amelia Kent
Market Produce: Arthur Lirette
Nurserymen: Joseph Robert Barry
Pecan: Lynn Lofton
Rice: Allen McLain
Oyster: Carolyn Falgout
Poultry: Butch Oaks
Shrimp: R.J. Pizani
Soy, Wheat & Feed Grain: Donald Schexnayder
Sugar: Bryan Simon
Sweet Potato: Jason Ables
Leadership from the Grassroots
Each parish Farm Bureau has their own board of directors, who creates the grassroots leadership that drives our organization to its success. Below are the lists of parish presidents.
Acadia: Gerard Frey
Allen: Thomas Mayes
Ascension: Frankie Sotile Jr.
Assumption: Lance Gaudet
Avoyelles: Derek Dauzat
Beauregard: David Smith
Bienville: Philip Towns
Bossier: Loyd Dodson
Caddo: Marty Wooldridge
Calcasieu: Willie Danos
Caldwell: Randy Rentz
Cameron: Jake McCain
Catahoula: Burch Pierce
Claiborne: Mitch Marsalis
Concordia: John Rife
DeSoto: James McBride
East Baton Rouge: Bob Kelly
East Carroll: Phillip Tomlinson
East St. James: Matthew Gravois
Evangeline: Scotty Fontenot
Feliciana: John Thompson
Franklin: Adam Faulk
Grant: Ryan Yerby
Iberia: Benson Langlinais
Iberville: Katie Ramagos Nunez
Jackson: Robert Moore
Jefferson, St. Bernard, Plaquemine & Orleans:
Patrick Becnel, JrJefferson Davis: Kent Brown
Lafayette: Kirk Martin
Lafourche: Randy Toups
LaSalle: Keith Ganté
Lincoln: Jim Frasier
Livingston: Charles Kemp
Madison: Robert Warren
Morehouse: Damian Bollich
Natchitoches: Steve Roberts
Ouachita: Butch Oaks
Pointe Coupee: Curt Engemann
Rapides: Bill Cheek
Red River: Jason Anderson
Richland: Hunter Fife
Sabine: Paul Morris
St. Charles: Joan Robbins
St. Helena: Huey Willson
St. John: Cindy Perret
St. Landry: Joseph Boudreaux
St. Martin: Mike Melancon
St. Mary: Mark Chauvin
St. Tammany: Fred Bass
Tangipahoa: Justin Roberts
Tensas: Jeff Lee
Terrebonne: John Walther
Union: Tommy Bennett
Vermilion: Bryan Simon
Vernon: Rusty Bailes
Washington: Nickey Smith
Webster: Joe Lynn Robinson
West Baton Rouge: Donald Schexnayder
West Carroll: Richard Costello
West St.James: Charles Gravois, III
Winn: Jesse Dyson