Utah Farm Bureau members elect leaders at annual gathering in Provo

Members from Utah’s 28 county farm bureaus met recently in Provo to select leaders for the state’s farming and ranching organization. Delegates elected Sanpete County sheep rancher Wade Eliason as vice president of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation (UFBF).

“It’s an honor to be elected to this post and a great opportunity to continue supporting our president, board of directors and members of this organization, to carry out its wishes in keeping agriculture and Farm Bureau,” Eliason said. “Farm Bureau is strong in advocating for agriculture everywhere because it is a true grassroots organization. We advocate not simply what a board wants, but what farmers and ranchers around the state decide for themselves.”

Trevor Barnson, a rancher from Junction in Piute County, was elected to the board to fill the remaining year of Eliason’s term for District 6 (Garfield, Piute, Sanpete, Sevier and Wayne counties). Chris Chambers, a cattle rancher from Smithfield in Cache County, was elected to the state board of directors for District 1 (Box Elder, Cache and Rich counties), replacing fellow Cache County rancher Rob Smith.

Tyson Roberts, a produce farmer from Davis County; Steve Hanberg, a grain and forage farmer from Uintah County; and Jared Buhler, a farmer from Millard County, were also re-elected to two-year terms on the board of directors.

Sherrie Tate, a rancher and agritourism operator from Washington County, was elected the chair of the Utah Farm Bureau Promotions & Education (P&E) Committee. Tate serves as the Washington County Farm Bureau president, but as P&E chair, she will also serve on the UFBF board of directors.

Also newly elected to the P&E Committee were Kole & Kelly Nielsen from Weber County for District 2 (Weber, Mogan and Summit counties), Bret Yardley from Sanpete County for District 6 and Shane Stotlar from Kane County to fill a year-term for District 7 (Beaver, Kane, Iron, Millard and Washington counties). Brett and Lindsay Holmes were re-elected to the State P&E Committee from District 4 (Wasatch, Utah and Juab counties).

Re-elected to the State Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee was Vice Chair JaNae Titmus of Tooele County. Also re-elected were Kitty Young of Summit County for District 2, Sara Harward of Utah County for District 4 and Nancy Harris of Sevier County for District 6.

Two new couples were elected to serve on the state Young Farmer & Rancher Committee (YF&R): Bennett and Trina Gibson of Weber County for District 2 and Eaton and Josie Harris of Sevier County for District 6. Mason and Erika Anderson of Millard County were re-elected as vice chairs of the YF&R Committee as well as Clayton and Dakota Rindlisbacher of Juab County, representing District 4.

Voting delegates also addressed a wide range of policy issues, including positions on water, wildlife, food nutrition labeling and others.

The Utah Farm Bureau is the largest general farm and ranch organization in the state, with more than 34,000 member families. The American Farm Bureau Federation, the world’s largest general farm organization, has more than 6.2 million family members in 50 states and Puerto Rico.