The Alabama Farmers Federation’s 479 farmer delegates elected some new leadership this week.
Hope Cassebaum of Baldwin County is the new southwest area vice president and will serve on the Alfa Insurance state board.
Cassebaum is Alfa’s first woman officer and replaces longtime vice president Jake Harper, who is term limited.
Cassebaum is a row crop, cattle and specialty crop farmer and will serve Baldwin, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Dallas, Escambia, Hale, Lowndes, Marengo, Mobile, Monroe, Montgomery, Perry, Sumter, Washington and Wilcox counties.
Jon Hegeman of Calhoun County was reelected the central area vice president. Hegeman, a greenhouse owner, will continue serving Autauga, Bibb, Calhoun, Chilton, Clay, Cleburne, Fayette, Greene, Jefferson, Lamar, Pickens, Randolph, Shelby, St. Clair, Talladega, Tuscaloosa and Walker counties in his fourth term.
Delegates also selected four farmers to three-year terms as district directors.
Charles Butler of Madison County was chosen to serve District 2, which includes Limestone, Madison and Morgan counties. Butler is a row crop farmer and replaces board member Jeff Peek of Limestone County.
Lamar County’s Will Gilmer will serve District 5, replacing Tuscaloosa County’s Joe Anders. Gilmer is a cattle and hay producer whose district covers Bibb, Fayette, Jefferson, Lamar and Tuscaloosa counties.
Pickens County’s Stewart Koon will serve District 8. Koon, a poultry and cattle farmer, will serve Choctaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Perry, Pickens and Sumter counties and replaces Hale County’s Tommy Martin.
Baldwin County’s Mark Kaiser was reelected to serve District 11, which includes Baldwin, Clarke, Conecuh, Escambia, Mobile, Monroe and Washington counties.
Meanwhile, Conecuh County’s Steve Dunn was chosen to serve his 14th two-year term as secretary-treasurer. Dunn is a row crop and cattle farmer and covers all 67 counties.
Cullman County’s Lisa Lake and Morgan County’s Forrest Anders will serve one-year, ex-officio terms on the state board. They were elected chairs of the State Women’s Leadership Committee and State Young Farmers Committee, respectively.
The federation also this week gave its highest honor, the Service to Agriculture Award, Harper, the outgoing vice president from southwest Alabama.
The Wilcox County native has a nearly 45-year history with Alfa.
“Jake is an extremely valuable board member who understands our history,” Alfa President Jimmy Parnell said in a written statement. “His institutional knowledge is irreplaceable. He’s very good at analyzing numbers and getting to what matters. That makes him an asset.”