Goochland farmer re-elected Virginia Farm Bureau Federation president

Wayne F. Pryor, a Hadensville beef, grain and timber producer, was elected Nov. 29 to a fourth two-year term as president of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation.

Elections of officers and directors were held at the VFBF 2012 Annual Convention in Chantilly.

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 Virginia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. and president of Smyth County Mutual Insurance Co., the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation AgPAC, the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture Innovation and Rural Sustainability and 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 second 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.

In Goochland County, he is a member of the Goochland Historical Society, Forum Club and Goochland County Chamber of Commerce, for which he chairs the Chairman’s Circle, a group of executives who operate companies and organizations in Goochland.

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 son, Stephen Ross.

With nearly 150,000 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.