As a boy, Jeff Simmons grew up on a grape farm in Penn Yan, NY. He enrolled in agriculture classes, was a member of the FFA and was the National Eastern Region Star Agribusinessman in 1987 because of his supervised agricultural experience. Today, Simmons is the president of Elanco Animal Health and the 2011 Agribusiness Leader of the Year.
Simmons' belief in the power of agriculture is authentic and epitomized by action. His family still owns and operates a vineyard in western New York State. He attended Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and will return to campus to deliver a lecture on November 10th about "making safe, affordable and abundant food a global reality." Simmons has previously served as the chair of the National FFA Foundation's Sponsors' Board and worked in partnership to raise millions of dollars to benefit agricultural education students throughout the nation. His company still continues to strongly support students of agricultural education and he is vocal about his belief in the role young people will play in a changing and vital industry.
In a 1987 feature in the National Future Farmer Magazine (today known as New Horizons), Simmons was praised for his sense of optimism in trying times. "I treat these tough times as a challenge, not as a tragedy," he explained at the age of 20. His positive outlook as an FFA member was backed up by resourcefulness and an unshakeable work ethic. As a freshman at Penn Yan Academy, he started a roadside fruit stand and drained his savings accounts to partner with his brother to scrape together enough money to buy a five-acre, abandoned vineyard. The brothers labored together to increase yield per acre by 350%. Simmons also brokered a deal selling grape brush to a dried flower company, turning what had previously been an expense into a source of profit. Simmons' FFA success foretold a lifetime of successful service to agriculture.
Simmons believes in providing consumers with rights, protecting farmers' rights to make decisions for their land and their businesses and in doing what is morally and environmentally right. His savvy business sense and strong vision for the future resulted in his selection as the National Agri-Marketing Association's 2011 Agribusiness Leader of the Year. In response to the recognition, Simmons stated that he believed all agriculturalists must "speak up and make it personal" when it comes to safe, abundant, affordable food. "I do think that we need to get out of our bubbles, get off of our farms and speak up because we are center stage right now," he said. "It is our time and it's a hot issue."
To New York FFA members, Simmons is a sort of hero. He exemplifies that agricultural education matters and that they have the ability to make themselves successful. His continued investment into the FFA makes opportunities possible for students to experience success in agriculture and in leadership. At the 2011 National FFA Convention, Simmons addressed the National FFA Delegates at a luncheon. New York State FFA Officers approached him afterward to let them know they'd been able to visit his family farm earlier that fall on a tour of agribusinesses and agriculture programs in the state.
"He is such an inspiration," State FFA Secretary Ariana Kaminski stated, afterward. "It's empowering to know that the program we are currently serving had a part in establishing a powerful leader in the agriculture industry. I want to serve our members even more, now, knowing that in reality the next Jeff Simmons should be coming out of our classrooms and in twenty years, she could be doing this exact thing."
