ORLANDO, FLORIDA, January 12, 2016 – Delegates at the 97th American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention elected Zippy Duvall to serve as the new president of AFBF and Scott VanderWal as vice president.
Vincent “Zippy” Duvall is a poultry, cattle and hay producer from Greene County, Georgia, and served as president of the Georgia Farm Bureau for 9 years. Duvall has held numerous leadership positions in Farm Bureau and his local community. He is the 12th president of the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Scott VanderWal is a third-generation family farmer from Volga, South Dakota, and has been president of the South Dakota Farm Bureau since 2004.
Full biographies of the newly elected leaders are included below.
Vincent “Zippy” Duvall, a poultry, cattle and hay producer from Greene County, Georgia, was most recently president of the Georgia Farm Bureau.
A Farm Bureau member since 1977, Duvall has held numerous leadership positions in the Greene County Farm Bureau, including president and vice president. Duvall has served on numerous GFB Commodity Advisory Committees, the GFB Policy Development Committee and, as past chairman, the GFB Young Farmer Committee. He has represented Georgia as a voting delegate at the American Farm Bureau Federation convention since being elected to the state board and served on the AFBF Board of Directors in the 1980s as chairman of the AFBF Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee. He also served as member of former Gov. Sonny Perdue’s Agricultural Advisory Council.
In addition to his Farm Bureau leadership, Duvall is chairman of the Greene County Board of Commissioners and is a member of the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia. He has served on the Rayle EMC board of directors for 16 years. Duvall is a member of the Greensboro Farmers Bank Board of Directors and is a member of the Greensboro/Greene County Chamber of Commerce. Duvall and his wife, Bonnie, have four children: Vince, Corrie, Zeb and Zellie.
Scott VanderWal is a third-generation family farmer from Volga, South Dakota. On their farm, Scott and his wife, Michelle, raise corn soybeans and do custom cattle-feeding and some custom harvesting.
Scott has been a member of the South Dakota Farm Bureau board of directors since 1997, including three years as Vice President. He was elected president in 2004 and has held the office since.
Scott and Michelle are both graduates of South Dakota State University and served on the South Dakota Farm Bureau Young Farmers & Ranchers committee for several years, including one year as Chairs. The couple also served on the American Farm Bureau Federation YF&R committee from 1992-1994, where Scott was elected Second Vice Chairman. Scott and Michelle are active in their church and community. They have two sons, Kyle and Austin.
Scott’s agricultural background includes an exchange trip to Germany in 1996, tours of the soybean “frontier” in Brazil in 2001 and 2006, and an agricultural trade mission to Cuba in 2004. More recently Scott has had the opportunity to travel to China and Switzerland to promote agriculture. He is a graduate of the South Dakota Agriculture and Rural Leadership Program.
Source: American Farm Bureau Federation
