Butler County Farmer Tom Duncan was elected to serve on the Alabama Farmers Federation State Poultry Committee during the organization’s Commodity Organizational Conference in Montgomery on Feb. 3.

Leadership elections for 16 Alabama Farmers Federation commodity groups were held during a three-day meeting, which began on Feb. 2 at the Embassy Suites Hotel.

Nearly 900 farmers from around the state discussed challenges, set goals for their respective commodities and helped establish Federation policy.

Shelby County farmer Terry Wyatt, who grows cotton, wheat, soybeans, corn and grain sorghum on his farm near Harpersville, said he’s been attending the conferences for years. He said the meeting is important because it helps him learn about new tends and technology that’s available to farmers.

“We learn about new varieties plus other things that could help us this year or in the future,” Wyatt said. “The meetings have excellent speakers who give up-to-date information we might not get otherwise.”

Adam Wilson of Calhoun said this year was his second time attending the conference. He raises cotton and cattle with his father, Wendell Wilson.

“I’m still new to all this but I see a lot of value in coming to this meeting,” said Wilson. “I want to be a good advocate for agriculture so it’s important for me to understand what’s going on in our industry so I can convey that information to people who aren’t involved in agriculture.”

Brian Hardin, Federation Governmental and Agricultural Programs director, said the annual meeting charts the course of the state’s largest farm organization.

“State commodity committee members are all farmers who are elected by farmers,” Hardin said. “Who better to determine the goals and issues these commodity committees will address than farmers? It’s a true grassroots structure.”

In addition to electing new commodity leaders, the meetings honored outgoing commodity committee members during lunch each day. They were Joe Lambrecht, Elmore County, Bee & Honey Committee; Paul Wheeler, Perry County, Catfish Committee; Jimmy Miller, Blount County, Cotton Committee; Toni Flowers, Montgomery County, Equine Committee; Jackie Loyd of Jackson County and Michael Jenkins of Jefferson County, Horticulture Committee; Albert Miller, Mobile County, Pork Committee; Mike Carnes, Marshall County, Poultry Committee; Pat Buck, Sumter County, Soybeans Committee; and Chip Stacey, Conecuh County, Wildlife Committee.