Inspiring, Humorous Keynotes on Tap for 2022 American Farm Bureau Convention

General session keynote speakers slated for the 2022 American Farm Bureau Convention are sure to inspire and entertain attendees. Inspirational speaker Jim “Murph” Murphy, founder and chairman of Afterburner, will speak during the afternoon general session at the convention on Sunday, Jan. 9, in Atlanta, Georgia. Comedian Jeff Allen will perform on Monday, Jan. 10, during the convention’s closing general session.

“We are excited to celebrate, mark our achievements and hear from leaders who have helped strengthen agriculture at the 2022 American Farm Bureau Convention,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall. “Convention also affords us the opportunity to reflect and relax together with inspiring and humorous perspectives from keynote speakers Jim Murphy and Jeff Allen. We look forward to hearing from them.”

Murphy has a unique and powerful mix of leadership skills in both the military and business worlds. Murph joined the U.S. Air Force where he learned to fly the F-15 fighter jet and went from farm boy to fighter pilot in just 16 months. He logged more than 1,200 hours as an instructor pilot in the F-15 and accumulated over 3,200 hours of flight time in other high-performance aircraft. As the 116th Fighter Wing’s chief of training for the Georgia Air National Guard, Murph’s job was to keep 42 combat-trained fighter pilots ready to deploy worldwide within 72 hours. As a flight leader, he flew missions to Central America, Asia, Central Europe and the Middle East.

Allen is in his fifth decade as a working comedian. You may have seen him on “America’s Got Talent,” “Huckabee,” Netflix, Amazon Prime, Pure Flix, Warner Bros., Comedy Central, VH1, Showtime, TBN, CBN, Family Net and numerous other television networks. He can be heard regularly on SiriusXM’s comedy channels, as well as on Pandora and Spotify. He has performed for military troops on aircraft carriers and ships in the Indian Ocean. Look for him on Dry Bar Comedy, where he has surpassed 200 million views on Facebook and YouTube. Allen also produced and starred in his own sitcom pilot for Castlerock Television and in the critically acclaimed film, “Apostles of Comedy.”

Duvall will give his annual address to Farm Bureau members during the opening general session of the convention on Sunday, Jan. 9. The convention will be held in person Jan. 7-12, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia, with a virtual option for portions of the event available to those not attending in person. Register here.

More About Jim Murphy

Prior to his service in the U.S. Air Force, Murph had a successful career in imaging equipment sales, where he helped increase his company’s sales by 500%. Years later, he became director of sales for a small paint company. The concepts he developed and utilized in business and the U.S. Air Force would become known as Flawless Execution. Applying Flawless Execution’s continuous cycle of planning, briefing, executing and debriefing, he increased his new employer’s sales from $5 million to $52 million per year.

Realizing that all companies and organizations could benefit from these same concepts, Murph started Afterburner Incorporated in early 1996. He has been invited to speak at many of the world’s most notable business schools, including Harvard, Wharton, Cornell, Emory, Duke, MIT and Fudan University in Shanghai, China.

More about Jeff Allen

Allen’s rapid-fire humor, which centers on marriage and family, is a hit with all ages. He has been featured at Montreal’s Just for Laughs Festival and HBO’s Comedy Arts Festival. At times both gut-wrenching and hilarious, Allen’s one-man show, The America I Grew Up In, offers a unique glimpse into his crazy world.