Voting delegates at the 77th Annual Georgia Farm Bureau Convention held Dec. 7-9 on Jekyll Island re-elected Zippy Duvall of Greene County to his fifth, two-year term as president of the state’s largest general farm organization. Duvall ran unopposed.

A member since 1977, Duvall and his wife, Bonnie, raise broilers, hay and beef cattle on their farm in Greene County. Duvall currently serves on the Greene County Farm Bureau Board of Directors and has held numerous leadership positions in the county Farm Bureau including president and vice president.

In other elections, voting delegates selected their state board of directors and officers for 2015. Bernard Sims of Catoosa County, who ran unopposed, was re-elected to his third, three-year term as North Georgia vice president. Sims, who was first elected in 2008, represents 49 counties in north Georgia. Sims, who also serves as the Catoosa County Farm Bureau president, grows turf grass, small grains, strawberries, hay and beef cattle.         

GFB voting delegates re-designated Gerald Long of Decatur County as the organization’s 1st vice president as he begins serving the second year of his third, three-year term as South Georgia vice president. Long and his family raise cattle and grow peanuts, vegetables, corn, cotton, hay, small grains and timber on their farm near Bainbridge.

Robert Fountain Jr. of Emanuel County begins the third year of his second consecutive three-year term as GFB Middle Georgia vice president. Fountain raises cattle, hay, timber, small grains and pecans on his family farm in Emanuel and Johnson counties.

In district director races, Wesley Hall of Forsyth County was elected to a two-year term on the Georgia Farm Bureau Board of Directors as a 1st District director. Hall, who is president of the Forsyth County Farm Bureau, raises cattle and operates a custom farm business that specializes in hay baling and hay sales, the sale of chicken litter for fertilizer and commercial fertilizer spreading.

Randy Ruff of Elbert County was re-elected as a GFB 2nd District director. Ruff, who owns a dairy farm, is president of the Elbert County Farm Bureau and has served as a GFB 2nd District director since 2002.

Don Wood of Wilcox County was re-elected as a GFB 8th District director. Wood, who grows row crops, pecans, watermelons and raises cattle, has served as a GFB 8th District director since 1982 and is a Wilcox County Farm Bureau director.

The following were re-elected unopposed to serve two-year terms on the Georgia Farm Bureau Board of Directors: Nora Goodman of Paulding County, 3rd District; Skeetter McCorkle of McDuffie County, 4th District; Jim Ham of Monroe County, 5th District; James Emory Tate of Jeff Davis County, 6th District; Ben Boyd of Screven County, 7th District; Lucius Adkins of Baker County, 9th District and Daniel Johnson, of Pierce County, 10th District.

GFB board members beginning the second year of the two-year term they were elected to in 2013 are: Bill Bryan of Chattooga County, 1st District; Bobby Gunter of Lumpkin County, 2nd District; George Chambers of Carroll County, 3rd District; Marvin Ruark of Morgan County, 4th District; Ralph Adamson of Lamar County, 5th District; James Malone of Laurens County, 6th District; Gary Bell of Evans County, 7th District; Scotty Raines of Turner County, 8th District; Paul Shirah of Mitchell County, 9th District and David Lee of Bacon County, 10th District.