Goochland County farmer re-elected president of Virginia Farm Bureau Federation

Wayne F. Pryor, a Hadensville beef, grain and timber producer, was elected Dec. 4 to a fifth two-year term as president of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.

Elections of officers and directors were held at the VFBF 2014 Annual Convention in Hot Springs.

Pryor served as Farm Bureau’s vice president from December 1998 through November 2006 and has been a member of the organization’s board of directors since 1988.

He currently serves on the board of the American Farm Bureau Federation and Mississippi-based Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Co. He also is a member of the Chicago-based American Agricultural Insurance Co. board and American Farm Bureau Insurance Services Inc. board.

In addition, Pryor is president and chairman of the board of directors of Syracuse, N.Y.-based Countryway Mutual Insurance Co.

In Virginia, he serves as president and chairman of the board for the Virginia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co.; the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation AgPAC; the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture Innovation and Rural Sustainability; and Commonwealth Fairs & Events Inc., which owns The Meadow Event Park and the State Fair of Virginia. He also is president of the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom.

Pryor is a member of Virginia Tech’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Advisory Committee. He was reappointed to a third term as a trustee of the Center for Rural Virginia by Del. William J. Howell, speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates.

He is a member of the Virginia Agribusiness Council, Virginia Cattlemen’s Association and the Virginia Cooperative Extension Leadership Council.

Earlier this year, Pryor received the Honorary American ffa Degree, an award that recognizes personal commitments and contributions to advance agricultural education and ffa.

Pryor attended Richmond Professional Institute, now Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a Mason and past master of Cabell Lodge #328. He also is an elder and lifelong member of Forest Grove Christian Church.

He and his wife, Pattie, have one adult son.

With 128,000 members in 88 county Farm Bureaus, VFBF is Virginia’s largest farmers’ advocacy group. Farm Bureau is a non-governmental, nonpartisan, voluntary organization committed to protecting Virginia’s farms and ensuring a safe, fresh and locally grown food supply. View more convention news as it becomes available atVaFarmBureau.org/NewsVideo/ConventionNewsroom.aspx.