On this week’s Digging In, Eric Bohl discusses the current issues affecting our MOFB members with BJ Tanksley, MOFB State Legislative Affairs Director; Spencer Tuma, MOFB National Legislative Affairs Director; and Kelly Smith, Marketing and Commodities Director.
Garrett Hawkins was first elected the 15th president of Missouri Farm Bureau on December 6, 2020. He is from Appleton City, Missouri, in St. Clair County. Garrett is a fifth-generation farmer whose primary enterprise is beef cattle production.
Garrett’s professional experience is rooted in service and spans Farm Bureau, state government and agribusiness.
From 2017 to 2019, Garrett served as deputy director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture. During his tenure, he worked with Governor Parson and Director of Agriculture Chris Chinn to protect and promote the state’s number one industry.
Prior to public service, Garrett led Farm Bureau’s national lobbying efforts and oversaw the organization’s policy development process for nearly 15 years.
Prior to joining the Farm Bureau staff, Garrett was involved in the organization’s youth programs, including the Ambassador program, Collegiate Farm Bureau (Missouri State University Chapter) and the summer internship program. Youth leadership development has been a passion throughout his career, as he has worked closely with the Missouri FFA Association to provide advocacy training to high school students.
Garrett received an agricultural business degree from Missouri State University. He is a graduate of the Missouri Agricultural Leadership of Tomorrow (ALOT) program.
Garrett is a member of the St. Clair County Farm Bureau and St. Clair County Cattlemen’s Association. He serves on the Ellett Memorial Hospital Board of Directors, the hospital his great uncle and aunt founded in the 1930s. He is a member of the First Baptist Church of Appleton City.
Missouri Farm Bureau has announced the hiring of Janet Adkison as director of Public Affairs for the organization. A native of Houston, Missouri, Adkison comes to MOFB after reporting for the national rural network RFD-TV based in Nashville, Tennessee.
She started with the network in 2013. Beginning in 2014, Adkison served as the network’s Washington, D.C., news bureau chief covering the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the White House. She returned to Nashville to anchor the Market Day Report. Before she was a national broadcaster, Adkison was a farm broadcaster for KMZU radio in Carrollton, Missouri, and the Brownfield Network in Jefferson City, Missouri. She is a past president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting.
Her ties to agriculture, and Farm Bureau, go back to childhood. She grew up on a beef farm in Texas County. She was an active member of the Houston FFA Chapter and eventually served as a state FFA officer. One of her earliest FFA activities was competing in MOFB’s FFA Public Speaking Contest. She was later involved in Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers & Ranchers Program and graduated from the Agriculture Leaders of Tomorrow Class XII. Adkison is a Missouri State University graduate.
Ben Travlos began in his role as Missouri Farm Bureau’s (MOFB) Director of State and Local Legislative Affairs in May 2022.
Prior to Farm Bureau, Travlos served as the Associate Director of Public Policy for the Missouri Corn Growers Association. He also completed an internship at the MOFB home office, where he collected data for collaborative research on beginning farmer government programs as the organization’s research and foundation intern.
Travlos graduated from Missouri State University with a B.S. in Agricultural Business in 2017 and a Masters in Agriculture Science/Economics in 2019. He served as the MSU Collegiate Farm Bureau President in 2016-17.
Davin Althoff began his tenure at Missouri Farm Bureau in April 2022 as the organization’s Director of Marketing and Commodities. Althoff joined MOFB following nearly five years at the Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA) where he served as the director of the Agriculture Business Development Division.
Althoff has been a staple in Jefferson City since starting his career at Missouri Farm Bureau as an account clerk in 1999. Since that time, he has served key roles at MDA, the Missouri Department of Economic Development, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the Missouri Beef Industry Council and with the Missouri Senate. He has a vast background in Missouri’s agriculture industry, capped with his recent stint at MDA where he led efforts to grow agribusiness opportunities both domestically and internationally for Missouri agriculture.
A graduate of Lincoln University with an MBA from William Woods University, Althoff remains a current owner/partner/operator of Althoff Farms, consisting of a spring/fall cow/calf enterprise, a stocker/backgrounding enterprise and a row crop operation.
Before coming to MOFB in 2022, Dan Engemann served five years in the Missouri Senate, most recently as Chief of Staff to Senator Karla Eslinger and District Director for Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz. In addition to these roles, he has served as Executive Director of the Coalition to Protect the Missouri River, where he focused on advocacy for flood control, navigation, and utilities along the lower Missouri River. He also previously served on the staff of Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer and worked at the Missouri Soybean Association and the Missouri Department of Agriculture.
Engemann currently serves as an agriculture representative on the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee (MRRIC), a 70-member federal panel advising the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on the operation of the Missouri River Recovery Program. He was elected by his fellow members as MRRIC’s Vice Chair, in which he served for two years. Dan is a member of the Agriculture Leadership of Tomorrow (ALOT) Class XII.
Engemann was raised on a cattle and row crop farm near Hermann. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia where he earned a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness management and a minor in political science. Dan resides in Hermann with his wife Amanda and children Blake, Atalie and Haley. He and his family are active members of Hermann First Baptist Church.
LeRoy joined the MOFB team in February 2022 after seven years of service with the Missouri Department of Agriculture (MDA).
A graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia’s agricultural economics and public policy program, LeRoy began her career as a staff assistant for U.S. Senator Roy Blunt before transitioning to MDA in December 2014. She spent nearly four years as MDA’s legislative assistant and youth program coordinator and more than three years as the organization’s legislative liaison before being promoted to her current role in August 2021. As part of her duties as MDA’s legislative and budget director, LeRoy developed and advocated for legislative proposals, played a key role in the preparation of MDA’s fiscal year 2023 budget request and helped carry out MDA initiatives and management of state resources.
During her undergraduate career, LeRoy completed multiple internships, including stops with the Missouri Farm Bureau Federation, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer and Representative Tom Loehner.
As part of the Young Farmers & Ranchers program, LeRoy reached the “sweet sixteen” of the 2013 Collegiate Farm Bureau Discussion Meet.
LeRoy is married to her husband, Derek, and has two children, Grace and Nora. She was raised on a cattle and row crop farm in Argyle.
Blake Rollins began at Missouri Farm Bureau in May 2021 after having served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for the former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. In years prior Rollins served as Director of the Office of External and Intergovernmental Affairs at USDA, Legislative Assistant/Counsel for U.S. Senator John Boozman and Counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.
Rollins received his law degree and LL.M. in Agriculture and Food Law from the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and his undergraduate degree from Taylor University in Upland, Indiana.
Todd Hays, of Monroe City, is vice president of the Missouri Farm Bureau Federation. He was first elected vice president in 2010, and previously served on the board of director’s 2nd district seat representing northeast Missouri.
Before serving on the board for six years, Hays was appointed MOFB Young Farmer and Rancher (YF&R) chairman in 2003, serving in an advisory capacity on the board for one year.
Hays is a fifth-generation farmer. Together with his wife, Rosanne, they operate a crop and livestock farm, managing a 600-sow herd and finishing hogs for market, in partnership with Rosanne’s mother and brother. The Hays’ son, Donnie, returned to the farming operation after earning his college degree and manages the sow operation. Donnie and wife, Ashley, live in Monroe City. The Hays also have a daughter, Juliana, who is a junior at the University of Missouri.
The Hays are Marion County Farm Bureau members and Todd is a board member. He has served as county vice-president and county YF&R chairman. At the state level, he serves as chairman of both Farm Bureau’s Resolutions and FARM-PAC Review committees. Community involvement includes the Knights of Columbus, FFA Alumni and Monroe City Agri-leaders. Hays has been a member of the Monroe City R-1 school board. Commodity group involvement includes the pork and cattlemen’s producers, and soybean and corn growers.
In 1984 Hays received the FFA State Farmer Degree and in 2004 was named a FFA Honorary Chapter Farmer. In 1997 he was the Missouri Outstanding Young Farmer.
Jennifer Poindexter is originally from Willard. She and her husband, Casey, now live on a farm in Montgomery County and serve on MOFB’s State Young Farmer and Rancher Committee. She holds a B.S. degree in Agricultural Education from Missouri State University and an M.S. degree in Educational Leadership from Northwest Missouri State University.
Spencer Tuma is Missouri Farm Bureau’s Director of National Legislative Programs. In this role, Spencer coordinates Farm Bureau’s efforts on Capitol Hill and coordinates the annual policy development process for Missouri Farm Bureau.
Spencer attended the University of Missouri where she obtained her undergraduate degree in Plant Sciences. She also completed her Master’s in Public Affairs with an emphasis in Policy Analysis from MU’s Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs.
Prior to joining Farm Bureau in 2017, Spencer worked for U.S. Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler as her Political Director and as a Field Representative. As a student, Spencer participated in Collegiate Farm Bureau and competed at the American Farm Bureau Collegiate Discussion Meet. In addition, Spencer served as a legislative intern at Missouri Farm Bureau during the summer of 2015.
Spencer and her husband, Andrew, reside near Jefferson City, Missouri.
