[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 185 (Tuesday, November 19, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6665]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO LARRY WOOTEN

  Mr. BURR. Madam President, Senator Thom Tillis and I would like to 
recognize the distinguished service of a great North Carolinian. After 
a 25-year career with the North Carolina Farm Bureau, Larry Wooten is 
stepping aside as president at the end of this year. President Wooten 
has been a steadfast advocate for agriculture and rural North Carolina.
  Larry has worked tirelessly to advance initiatives that strengthen 
and improve our State's rural communities. He is an exemplary servant 
leader that has always encouraged others to ``give back'' to the 
organizations, the communities, and the State that have provided them 
with opportunities for growth and advancement. He is a founding member 
of the NC Rural Economic Development Center where he served on the 
board of directors and executive committee. He has also served with 
distinction on the American Farm Bureau Board of Directors, the NC 
Board of Agriculture, the Agricultural Consortium Board, and the Rural 
Prosperity Task Force. He has served as chair of the American Farm 
Bureau Foreign Trade Committee and on USDA's Agricultural Policy 
Advisory Committee, APAC.
  Most significant, however, is the impact Wooten has had on North 
Carolina agriculture. In his role as president, he has been an 
effective voice for agribusiness and farmers--educating leaders and 
lawmakers about the State's largest economic sector and helping shape 
sound State and national policy for its future. A lifelong farmer from 
Pender County, North Carolina, Larry knows firsthand the positive 
impact of a sound agricultural education, research, and extension of 
that research onto his farm. Larry was a key influencer in the 
inclusion of NC State University's Plant Sciences Building in North 
Carolina's Connect NC Bond Referendum, as well as supporting the 
university's efforts to create new paths for more rural students to 
earn their NC State degree. Wooten, through his leadership of the Farm 
Bureau, has been a tireless supporter of NC A&T State University's 
Small Farms Initiative. All these efforts will create pathways for 
North Carolinians to have an oversized positive impact on farming and 
economic development in our state and nation.
  Larry Wooten is a remarkable leader who put the wellbeing of our 
state and its citizens above his own. It is through the work of 
selfless leaders like Larry that North Carolina has become a state 
where the weak have an opportunity to grow strong, and the strong can 
grow great.

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