Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL May/June 2020 Issue
Joe Neal Hampton
Jeffery Hickman
Joe Neal Hampton, president and CEO of the Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association, Enid (580-233-9516), is ending a nearly 48-year career with the association by retiring effective June 30.
Hampton will be replaced after that date by Jeffery Hickman, a former Speaker of the House in the Oklahoma legislature. A native of Alva in the northwest part of the state, Hickman first was elected to the House of Representatives in 2004 and rose to become Speaker, until he was forced to leave the House in 2017 due to term limits.
Grain Journal reached Hampton in early April to look back on highlights of his career and discuss his future plans.
What is your background in the industry, and how did you become involved in the Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association (OGFA)?
I grew up on a farm just south of Enid near the town of Waukomis. The farm was settled in the early 1900s, so I’m part of the third generation living there. I’m still actively farming , though on a much smaller scale than I used to. I am raising wheat and club lambs for 4-H and FFA livestock show projects. My father was a mill feed ingredient seller and wheat buyer for the Pillsbury Mill in Enid.
Back in 1972, I was finishing up my Masters of Science degree in agriculture economics at Oklahoma State University, when a position opened up with the Enid Board of Trade. My predecessor, Joel Kocher, was getting ready to retire, and the office was located close to the family farm, so I applied and was luckily hired for the position.
How has OGFA changed over the years?
The association was formed in 1898, and is one, if not, the oldest trade associations in Oklahoma. From it’s beginning it was managed by several individuals basically out of their homes or grain offices until 1971, when the Enid Board of Trade assumed management of the organization.
The Enid Board of Trade assumed management of several other associations since then, including the Oklahoma Seed Trade Association in 1981 and in 1989, the Oklahoma Plant Educational Society and the Oklahoma Ag Chemical Association, which were combined to form the Oklahoma Agribusiness Retailers Assn.
In 1998, the Enid Board of Trade was dissolved and its assets and employees were assumed by OGFA. One final management opportunity came with the Oklahoma Wheat Growers’ Association in 2016, and I serve as executive director of that organization.
I’ve been blessed and most fortunate to have been associated with many fine people in the grain , feed, seed, fertilizer, ag chemical, and wheat industries and in state government. Of all the significant legislative initiatives these organizations have undertaken over the years, we’ve never lost a single one. All of them have become part of state law, rule and regulations.
How has Oklahoma and its agriculture changed during your years with OGFA?
Back when I started, there were typically two grain elevators in every town in the western part of the state. Since then, consolidation has dramatically changed the shape of the industry. The number of members has dropped significantly due to mergers, acquisitions, and consolidations. However, OGFA continues to represent over 90% of the state’s grain and feed industry.
The Staggers Act dramatically changed the rail transportation landscape. Now, if an elevator can’t load 100-car unit-trains, they basically have no rail service. Elevators have to depend on trucks to get grain to a rail or barge terminal.
Most of our country elevators were built primarily to store government [USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation] -owned wheat. Combine bins held about 100 bushels and bob tail farm trucks held about 250-300 bushels. Now the bin on a single combine holds more bushels than one of these older trucks . Grain is now delivered in semi-trucks,
