The kids were waiting in the driveway. As Garrett Hawkins returned home after being elected the 15th Missouri Farm Bureau president, the Appleton City native and his wife, Jennifer, were greeted by their three excited children.

At the Dec. 6 annual meeting of the Missouri Farm Bureau, more than 720 members voted by phone in a contested presidential bid. After only one vote, Hawkins won.

“I can’t tell you how many times [daughter] Adelyn has asked, 'Daddy, are you ever going to work at Farm Bureau again?'" Hawkins says. “They are absolutely elated.”

He admits that some of their enthusiasm stems from the years the family spent attending county meetings and visiting Tan-Tar-A for Missouri Farm Bureau annual meetings and state Young Farmers & Ranchers conferences. And it is not all about the indoor pool, he quips.

“They really feel like Farm Bureau members are our extended family,” he says. For them, as well as the couple, this new post is a homecoming of sorts.

Path to leadership

Hawkins served as a Missouri Farm Bureau youth ambassador and was active in Collegiate Farm Bureau at Missouri State University, where he earned a degree in agricultural business. He served as a summer legislative intern for the organization as well.

For nearly 15 years, he led the state organization’s national lobbying efforts and policy development process as the director of national legislative programs.

In 2016, Hawkins left Jefferson City, but he continued to serve Missouri Farm Bureau from his family farm near Appleton City. Then in 2017, a new opportunity came along to serve the state as deputy director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture. He stayed in that role until 2019.

Then, Hawkins took a job as an account manager for Rosen’s Inc., an agricultural chemical distribution company, helping independent ag retailers and their farmer-customers in west-central and northwest Missouri.

“As we transition home and in this new role, I’m every bit as passionate about the issues surrounding agriculture and rural communities,” Hawkins says. “These issues affect my family and those around us in Appleton City, and so I take them to heart.” He knows even more change is ahead for farmers in 2021.

Focus on rural issues

Hawkins points to the change in administration in Washington D.C. “We know that priorities certainly will be different,” he says. “I feel like we have a fresh start as we look at 2021, a new Congress, and a new opportunity to talk about the issues and why they're important to agriculture.”

The St. Clair County farmer would like to see the new administration do more work in rural communities.

Appleton City has a population of 1,100. Hawkins serves on Ellett Memorial Hospital's board of directors. Actually, it is the same hospital his great aunt and uncle founded in the early 1930s.

“I’ve always had a passion for rural health care and making sure that access and affordability are addressed,” he says. “I really take a big-picture approach that our farmers and ranchers need their rural communities to be strong.

"By the same token, our small-town businesses need to see our farmers and ranchers thrive. So, I've always looked at this as an interconnectivity — one has to have the other.”

Hawkins says it is this type of mindset he will tap in the new year to determine how best to move the needle on the issues that are really important in local communities, and to farmers and ranchers.

Already, the Missouri Farm Bureau voting delegates adopted a set of resolutions Hawkins deemed as “hot-button items” to bring forward to the American Farm Bureau annual meeting in early 2021.

“With regard to prices, particularly on the cattle side, we have policies around market structure and the Packers and Stockyards Act,” he says. The Missouri Farm Bureau membership also adopted language to bring clarity to out-of-state sales and direct-to-consumer marketing efforts.

Hawkins looks forward to traveling and hearing from farmers about other issues important to their agriculture operations. One thing is for certain; it will be a family affair.

United front

“This is a journey together,” Hawkins says. “We’re going to serve as a family.”

While his young children — Adelyn, Colton and Tate — may not truly understand the scope of their dad’s new role, Hawkins says their sense of pride and excitement is there.

“What I hope, as we continue on this journey, is they can look back and see that we did it as a family, that service is a family affair,” he says. “It is no different than in agriculture. We farm together and support each other. Now, we’re going to support each other and our Missouri Farm Bureau family in this role.”