[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 20 (Wednesday, February 3, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S537]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO ZIPPY DUVALL
Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, first of all, I am privileged and honored
to commend Zippy Duvall, a great Georgian who just a few weeks ago was
elected, in the 97th year of the American Farm Bureau, as its 12th
president. Zippy has been the president of the Georgia Farm Bureau
since 2006. He has been a leader in our State for decades, and I am so
proud he will now represent agriculture throughout our country. He
himself is a cattleman. He raises hay. He raises broilers. He has run
the Farm Bureau and been a great advocate for agriculture and farming
in our State.
He and his wife Bonnie have four children and three grandchildren. He
serves on the Farmers Bank board. He serves as the president of the
Georgia Farm Bureau. He serves on the local electric membership
corporation board. He serves on the soil and water conservation board.
He is a total public servant, and he is an outstanding advocate for
agriculture and an outstanding representative of our State.
The best example of Zippy Duvall that I know is, if you ride through
South Georgia--the heart of agriculture country in my State--and you
look at all the bumper stickers on all the pickup trucks, you will see
a unique bumper sticker--not mine, not a Member of Congress's, not the
Governor's, but a bumper sticker that says very simply ``Ditch the
Rule.'' Zippy Duvall was one of the leaders in our country who took on
the EPA to stop from going into place the waters of the U.S.A.
regulations that would hurt agriculture so desperately in our State.
That bumper sticker became a slogan for agriculture all over the
country, and farmers worked together to advocate on behalf of better
agriculture without an overly oppressive EPA effect.
I am proud to come to the floor today and recognize a member of my
State, a great farmer in Georgia, and a great citizen of our country.
He will be the 12th president of the American Farm Bureau, and he will
be the best president of the American Farm Bureau. I commend him and
his family for all their sacrifice and effort. I wish him the very best
of luck in his endeavors as president of the American Farm Bureau
Federation.
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