Recognizing Jimmy Dodson

Floor Speech

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Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, it is with great respect and honor that I rise today to recognize Jimmy Dodson as he completes his term as the chair of the Farm Credit Council Board of Directors.

Jimmy is a third-generation farmer, and he grows cotton, corn, wheat, milo, and operates a seed sales business near Robstown, Texas, where he and his wife, Barbara, live today.

Jimmy is a great leader in the cotton industry, as the past chair of the National Cotton Council of America, the American Cotton Producers, and the Cotton Foundation. He is a founding member of Cotton LEADS, the cotton industry's sustainability program, and a member of the boards of Cotton Incorporated, the Texas Agricultural Cooperative Council, and the Gulf Coast Cooperative. He was one of the first farm leaders to visit China to work to expand U.S. ag exports into that country.

He is also a great leader within the cooperative Farm Credit System, which he first joined in 1974. Jimmy was first elected by his fellow south Texas farmers to represent them on the board of the Coastal Bend Production Credit Association in February 1982. Jimmy went on to become a lifelong board member of the Farm Credit Bank of Texas, where he serves today as board chair and oversees efforts to support farmers in Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi. This year, Jimmy will complete his term as board chair of the Farm Credit Council, where he has led efforts to support farmers and farm families across the United States.

Jimmy Dodson has devoted his life to agriculture, and our Nation's farm families have benefited tremendously from his efforts. On behalf of the U.S. House of Representatives and the House Agriculture Committee, I extend my deepest gratitude to Jimmy for his tireless efforts and his tireless support of American farmers and ranchers. I wish him the very best as he continues his lifelong service to Texas and U.S. agriculture.

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