ABOUT me

I am a Christian and a first-generation full-time dryland farmer in Waxahachie, Texas. My love and passion for agriculture began at a very early age and has only grown stronger over the years. 

I raise corn, wheat, milo, hay, and livestock.  In addition, I am a licensed Texas Food Manufacturer. We have a commercial kitchen on the farm and have been selling our beef and pork cuts directly to the public and at the Waxahachie Farmers Market for 11 years under the brand name “The Yellow Farmhouse.”  I have been farming full-time or 32+ years and have been actively involved and serving the agriculture industry at local, state, and national levels for many of those years.  

I have served as a local 4-H Leader, and my wife, Heather, was the manager of the 4-H Livestock Club for many years. 

I served on the Texas Young Farmer & Rancher Committee for three years (2007-09) and was honored to serve as Chairman for one of those.  I served as the Ellis County Farm Bureau Board President for six years (2012-17).  In 2018, I ran and was elected as a state director for Texas Farm Bureau and served until 2024. My district covered 16 counties here in North Central Texas, from Hill to Grayson, Parker to Hunt, and over to Kaufman County, and represented 85,000 member families.  In this capacity, I was one of 13 state directors who played an active role in quarterly board meetings, overseeing a multi-billion-dollar insurance company. 

In 2009, I was appointed by Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples to serve on the Texas Agriculture Finance Authority Board, and in 2010 was appointed to serve as Chairman of the TAFA Board in Austin.  I served as Chairman until 2023. 

In 2016, I founded the Texas Agriculture Memorial Day and worked with the governor’s office to designate November 21st as a day to remember those lives lost or severely injured in agriculture accidents or those who dedicated their life to the agriculture industry. I have worked annually with representatives in the legislature to sponsor the Capitol auditorium and space to hold a luncheon for the families of the honorees and the memorial ceremony.  We hold a memorial wreath presentation with bagpipes at the south steps of the Capitol and then have our certificate ceremony in the Capitol auditorium with certificates presented to the families of the honorees from the governor‘s office and, in many cases, their state representative or state senator.  We have honored over 100 families at this ceremony. 

My wife and I are one of the five founding families of the Ellis County Youth Commercial Heifer Show and Sale (2015–20). We had an annual heifer show focusing on recordkeeping, marketing, and an interview process to teach the participants the fundamentals of raising commercial cattle.

Over the years, I have had many opportunities to give interviews through television, radio, and newspapers. Many of which you can find through Google. For four years, I did a weekly agriculture video report called “The Ag Report” on current issues with a local newspaper. Many of these episodes can be found on YouTube.

I have been asked by the Texas State Capitol Agriculture and Livestock Committee to testify on issues before the Texas legislature. 

I was asked to be a speaker in 2024 by Speaker of the US House, Mike Johnson, at a congressional round table gathering he was holding in North Texas. 

For two years, I was the district chairman of the Agriculture Issues Committee for Congressman Jake Ellzey. 

I have participated in several congressional round tables in Dallas and Fort Worth, advising on agriculture issues. 

I am a founding board member of the Ellis County Rural Heritage Farm. This farm focuses on preserving the rural blackland farming heritage of Ellis County, focusing on a snapshot in time of the early 1900s. The Ellis County Rural Heritage Farm holds an annual free farm day in September, inviting the public to participate and see different demonstrations. 

I am also a Board member of the Howard Co-op Water Supply. 

Sharing my #TexasAgricultureStory has been something I have done for many years. Please feel free to go back and look at my 10+ year journey with my hashtag.

So, how has being a lifelong full-time farmer made me an exceptional candidate to be your next County Commissioner of Precinct Two?

Being a farmer, you wear many “hats,” meaning you have to be well-versed in a lot of things, such as managing employees, their personalities, and how to encourage them to get the most out of their skill set. Managing your finances in years that you make a good crop, reinvesting in your equipment, and in years where funds are lean, trying to figure out how to get more done with less. When you are a farmer, you are always thinking about the next crop and what you need to do today to be prepared. Much like Ellis County is growing and we need to be thinking of what we can do today with infrastructure to be prepared for the growth coming tomorrow. Running heavy equipment for 32 years and actually turning the wrenches and repairing it, from pulling motors to doing service work because you can’t always call the dealership anytime you need something done. You must learn how to fix and repair your own equipment to save money.  When a crisis happens, you must have a level head and think about what your first and second steps are. In agriculture, there may be grass fires, snowstorms like winter storm Uri, etc. Being able to prepare ahead when able and to calmly assess damage and make a plan of action to clean up and repair afterward is very important. You can see footage of me during winter storm Uri doing live interviews with Fox, PBS, and several others on the state of agriculture in Texas during the storm. As a commissioner, you are overseeing the spending of everyone’s hard-earned money that they have paid through their taxes. I think it is important to keep that in mind and spend those funds appropriately. My years as a representative for agriculture have taught me how to hear the people’s questions or needs and communicate those to other elected officials or organizations. As commissioner, I would be hearing the constituents’ questions or needs and bringing that back to the commissioners’ court to share with the other commissioners and the county judge. 

I’ve spent my life living, working and being involved in my community here in Ellis County. I have a Love for Ellis County. I’m invested in Ellis County and I want to see Ellis County thrive. 

As your County Commissioner it is important to have a life long and active connection with Ellis County. I was raised in Ellis County, I have worked for a living as a small business owner and farmer in Ellis County. I planted the roots of my family and made a home in Ellis County. I support my community by shopping locally, supporting youth programs and local organizations in Ellis County. For 26 years every major appliance my wife and I have purchased for our home has come from the same family owned Ellis County business, for 32 years all the tires I have bought for my trucks, tractors, and equipment have come from one of two local tire stores. 

Growing up I saw the growth in late 70’s-early 80’s. I watched the Super Conducting Super Collider come in the late 80’s and go in the late 90’s. I farmed through growth in the country in the late 90’s, farmed through more growth in the 00’s and have kept on farming navigating the growth of the teen’s up to current times. 

When you’re tied to the land farming and ranching it for a living you experience growth and the effects of it on the community first hand. When fences are put up or taken down, parcels are divided, roads, pipelines or even high voltage transmission lines come through you learn to adapt, be flexible and think on your feet of how to make the best of each situation. 

Living and farming through these growth times gives me the experience and knowledge of remembering the past, working in the present and doing my best to have foresight for the future. These experiences are a great skill set for a County Commissioner.