Missouri Centenarian Shares Thoughts on Farm Bureau’s Longevity

With the American Farm Bureau Federation’s centennial year, 2019, only a few months away, we relish the chance to tap into longtime Farm Bureau members’ thoughts on the organization’s history and vision for the future.

Max Oyler has been on the Grundy County (Missouri) Farm Bureau board of directors since 1950. He has served as the president, vice president, legislative chairman and FARM-PAC chairman for GCFB and has served on many of MFB’s state committees. Oyler recently celebrated a triple-digit milestone of his own when he turned 100 years old earlier this year.

Oyler was featured in Missouri Farm Bureau’s centennial book, published in 2015.

“I joined for the legislative representation in Washington and Jefferson City. I thought it was the best organization to do that, and now it’s about the only organization to do that,” he was quoted in the book.

“For many organizations, all policy comes from the top. Not in Farm Bureau – ideas come from the membership. Our Resolutions Committee constructs policy proposals and they are voted up or down by the members. We don’t have a president telling us what to do. To me, that’s very important.”

“Farm Bureau has been good to me. I’m proud to say it’s better than it was 60 years ago, and we’re involved in more things than we were 60 years ago. And I’m pretty sure the best is yet to come.”

Thank you to Missouri Farm Bureau for sharing Oyler’s words and photo with AFBF.