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Texas Farm Bureau
Commodity and Regulatory Activities Staff
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Jim Sartwelle
TFB Public Policy Director
254-751-2654
jsartwelle@txfb.org
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Jim Sartwelle is the
director of Public Policy with the Texas Farm Bureau. Sartwelle joined the TFB senior
management staff in December 2009.
He directs the TFB Legislative; Commodity and Regulatory Activities; as well as
Research, Education, and Policy Development departments. These departments coordinate member
involvement and county Farm Bureau participation in public
policy matters at all levels of government.
Sartwelle was reared in Sealy, Austin County, Texas.
He and his father operate Sartwelle Brahman Ranch, a family-owned
seedstock and commercial cow-calf ranch founded in 1914. He holds a B.S. degree from
Texas A&M University and M.S. degree from Kansas State
University, both in Agricultural Economics.
Sartwelle
previously served more than three years as the Livestock Economist for the
American Farm Bureau Federation in Washington, D.C
Prior to his time with AFBF, he served as an Extension agricultural economist
for 12 years, based in Garden City, Kansas; Amarillo, Texas; and College Station,
Texas. Sartwelle, his wife Beth, and sons
J.D. and Brock, reside in Robinson.
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Ned Meister
Commodity and Regulatory Activities Director
254-751-2457
nmeister@txfb.org
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Ned Meister is director of the Commodity and Regulatory Activities Division. He works to
implement a state and national program to influence decisions of government
agencies on rules and regulations that affect farmers and ranchers, to
administer commodity division programs, to provide staff leadership on
environmental and labor issues, and to assist Farm Bureau members in dealing
with government regulatory and administrative actions at the local level. Before
his current position, he served as a field representative and director of
Regulatory Affairs.
Raised
on a dairy farm near Crystal City in Zavala County, Meister graduated from Sam
Houston State University at Huntsville, receiving a Bachelor of Science and
Master of Education degree in Vocational Agriculture.
Meister
taught Vo-Ag in the Windham ISD and served as director of Vocational Programs at
the Texas Department of Corrections at Huntsville. He moved to Sinton in 1975 to
raise cotton, grain and cattle, and was elected to the San Patricio CFB Board,
serving as its president 1980-81. He
and his wife, Darla, live near Valley Mills and have four children and two
grandchildren.
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George Caldwell
Commodity and Regulatory Activities Associate Director
254-751-2262
gcaldwell@txfb.org
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George Caldwell is associate director of
Commodity and Regulatory Activities.
Caldwell is responsible for the supervision of the state Farm Bureau advisory
committees on cotton, feed grains, wheat, rice, soybeans, sugar and peanuts. He is also responsible for pesticide
and water quality issues. In
this capacity, he works to implement the state and national policy of the Farm
Bureau members and with regulatory agencies that affect and regulate the
agriculture sector. He also serves as the staff liaison to the Risk
Management Agency and the Farm Service Agency to crop insurance and farm program
issues.
Born in Nevada, Texas in Collin County,
Caldwell received his Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural
Education from East
Texas State
University.
Prior to joining the TFB staff, Caldwell
farmed in Collin County
raising cotton, wheat and grain sorghum. In 1988, he was hired by TFB as a Swisher County agent. In 1989, he was promoted to
field representative. He and his wife, Debbie, live in Crawford
and have three children and seven
grandchildren.
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Jon Johnson
Commodity and
Regulatory Activities Associate Director
254-751-2266
jjohnson@txfb.org
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Jon Johnson
is associate director of Commodity and Regulatory Activities. In this position, he is responsible
for the supervision of the state Farm Bureau advisory committees on beef cattle,
citrus, poultry, swine, sheep & goats and animal health.
Prior to assuming this position, Johnson was a field representative for
Texas Farm Bureau serving 15 organized county Farm
Bureaus in South Texas.
Born in Uvalde and raised on a farm and ranch operation in
Zavala County, Johnson received his Bachelor of Science
and Master=s degree in
Agriculture Education from Sam
Houston State
University. He has worked for the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, Del
Monte Foods, Inc. and taught vocational agriculture in the Huntsville ISD.
Johnson is a member of the US/Mexico Bi-National TB and Brucellosis Committee,
US/Mexico Bi-National Fever Tick Committee, USDA Mexico TB Evaluation Team,
Texas Beef Council=s International
Marketing Committee, the U.S. Animal Health Association=s Brucellosis, Tuberculosis, Animal ID
Committees, and the co-chair of Cattle Health Committee for the National
Institute for Animal Agriculture. He and his wife, Marilyn, live in Lorena and
have two children and one granddaughter.
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Gene Richardson
Commodity and Regulatory Activities Associate Director
254-751-2263
grichardson@txfb.org
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Gene Richardson is associate director of Commodity and Regulatory
Activities. Richardson is responsible for these commodities: forestry, game
ranch, hay and forage, horses, horticulture, nursery and greenhouse, and
wildlife and outdoor recreation. The Endangered Species Act and its impact on
landowners is another area of responsibility . Prior to this position,
Richardson served as an area field representative for Texas Farm Bureau from
1995-2006.
A native of Lubbock, Richardson received his Bachelor of Science degree in
Agriculture, Business and Economics from West Texas State University at Canyon.
He was employed as district sales manager for Mycogen Plant Sciences. He was
also a Farm Bureau agent in Hockley and Hunt counties. Richardson received the
Southern Farm Bureau Million Dollar Ring, Round Table, All Star and Professional
Agents Holiday.
Richardson farmed and ranched in Hudspeth County, where he was a county Farm
Bureau director. He and his wife, Cristy, have three children and one
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Jay Bragg
Commodity and Regulatory Activities Associate Director
254-751-2234
jbragg@txfb.org
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Jay Bragg is associate director
of Commodity and Regulatory Activities. In this capacity, he works to
implement a state and national program to influence decisions of government
agencies on rules and regulations, primarily concerning air, water and other
environmental issues, that affect farmers and ranchers; to administer commodity
division programs; to provide staff leadership on environmental and labor issues;
and to assist Farm Bureau members with government regulatory and
administrative actions at the local level.
Bragg graduated from
Stephen F.
Austin State
University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry
with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and a minor in Marketing.
At the Texas State Soil and Water
Conservation Board, he worked with agricultural producers, soil and water
conservation districts, universities and other agencies to develop grant
projects to address statewide water quality concerns.
In 2004, Bragg began working for the Brazos River Authority as the Permitting and
Regulations coordinator and later became the Environmental Planner for the
Central and Lower
Brazos River Basin.
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