Jimmy Wedel
TCPB Secretary
CPAT Vice President
Muleshoe, Texas
Seventh-generation farmer Jimmy Wedel currently serves as secretary of the Texas Corn Producers Board and vice president of the Corn Producers Association of Texas. The Muleshoe, Texas, native has been farming for 31 years and currently farms corn, cotton, wheat, soybeans, peanuts, black beans and pinto beans on 4,500 acres. He and his wife, Susan, have a son living in Muleshoe as well as a daughter in Plano.
Additionally, Wedel is President of the Texas Organic Cotton Marketing Co-op, is part owner and board member of a peanut processor in Portales, N.M., is a member of the NRCS State Technical Advisory Committee, and serves on both the Texas Department of Agriculture Organic Industry Advisory Board and the Capital Farm Credit Board.
“I enjoy serving and being involved with leadership,” Wedel said. “I want to be involved and make a difference.”
Wedel said he hopes this board can help shape better farm policy and find new markets and better uses for corn. Some of the biggest challenges to corn farmers, he said, involve maintaining profit in spite of a decline in price, high input costs and farm progress payment pressure. And the farming in the High Plains of Texas brings along unique challenges, Wedel explained.
“Due to declining aquifer levels,” Wedel said, “we have to produce more corn with less water. This is a definite challenge we need to address to ensure we are profitable each year.”
Wedel is unique in the corn farming industry because his entire corn crop is grown organically and approximately 90 percent is sold as “organic.” Wedel said this farming method simply presents a challenge, and he feels he can earn more profit growing organically while helping the environment.
Joining the association is the smart thing for any corn producer, Wedel said. It is a good investment, and an opportunity to help shape farm policy. Plus, Wedel said he doesn’t know anyone who couldn’t use a free bag of seed.
