The Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow Club at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College will host Georgia Farm Bureau President Gerald Long on Nov. 27 at 6:30 p.m. in the Chapel of All Faiths.  Members of the community, as well as students, faculty, staff and alumni, are invited.  There is no charge to attend.

“We are fortunate that we have an ABAC alumnus in this role and look forward to him being on campus,” said Becca Turner, advisor for ABAC’s ACT chapter.

Long, a 1969 ABAC graduate, was named president of Georgia Farm Bureau in 2016 when his predecessor, Zippy Duvall, was elected president of the American Farm Bureau Federation.  A Decatur County farmer, Long raises cattle and grows peanuts, vegetables, corn, cotton, hay, small grains and timber with his family on their farm near Bainbridge.

Long was first elected to the GFB Board of Directors in 1999 as a 9th District director, representing 14 counties in Southwest Georgia. In 2006, voting delegates in the GFB South Region elected him South Georgia Vice President.  Beginning in 2008, GFB voting delegates statewide designated Long to serve as GFB first vice president each year.

A Farm Bureau member since 1970, Long currently serves on the Decatur County Farm Bureau Board of Directors as secretary/treasurer and is a past president and vice president of the Decatur County Farm Bureau. In addition to his Farm Bureau leadership, he is a member of the Georgia Cattlemen’s Association and serves on the board of the Decatur County Cattlemen’s Association. He represents GFB on the Georgia Beef Board, where he serves as treasurer.

Long was a founding board member of the Georgia Peanut Producers, the Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association, and the Flint River Water Planning Policy Center. He also serves on the Decatur County Industrial Development Authority.

Long majored in Crop Science and Animal Science at ABAC before serving six months of active duty in the Georgia Army National Guard and six years of reserve duty.  Long and his wife, Janice, have three adult children and two grandchildren. They are members of the First Baptist Church of Bainbridge.

For more information on this event, interested persons can contact ACT Advisor Becca Turner at (229) 391-4958 or via e-mail at [email protected].