The Knight family has owned their family farm in east Rankin County for nearly 150 years. There are still signs of its original use…dairy cattle. Now, though, the milking barn is long retired and is home to several horses.

Former Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation President Randy Knight greets visitors with a smile, giving them tours of his operation.

“I had no other aspirations other than being a farmer,” Knight said when asked about his career path.

After receiving his degree from Mississippi State University, he returned to the farm, his mind set to continue the family business with beef cattle.

“I like the dairy, but I was also more into beef cattle,” he said. “When it just got to the point where we were working all the time and weren’t making any money, we decided to leave the dairy cattle business pursue my beef cattle interests. I kind of blame the government for the problem with the dairy business. They made us start buying and paying the freight on all this milk coming in and out of West Texas and New Mexico. We were real strained in the southeast.”

Knight followed is his father’s footsteps first serving on the Rankin County Farm Bureau Board of Directors – three years of that as county president – then for two years on the MFBF Board of Directors, followed by four years as Central Mississippi Vice President.

“I never had those aspirations when I first got on the board,” Knight said. “The main reason I wanted to serve on the board was because I wanted my voice to be heard. I felt like we were a small group of people that needed to stick together and tell the country our story.”

Knight was elected the ninth president of MFBF following David Waide’s retirement in 2010. Knight’s platform as president included furthering the MFBF’s educational and communication efforts to spread the word far and wide about farming, ranching and agriculture.

“Mr. Waide got it started with eminent domain, but we pushed and got it passed,” Knight said. “I felt like that was a really big deal to protect our private land and ownership of that land.  There are a lot of things we accomplished while I was there that I’m really proud to have helped farmers with.”

“I spent 60 to 70 hours a week and put 60,000 miles on a truck in a year, traveling the state,” knight added. “A lot of folks criticized me for not staying in the office all the time, but I felt like my job was to be out there representing Farm Bureau and representing agriculture.”

Today, with his cow-calf operation, Knight is happy to have helped MFBF through its first 100 years. He feels blessed to be doing what he loves.

Randy Knight: “My whole focus when I was elected president was to do what I could to help farmers and help agriculture,” he said. “That was my whole thing behind being involved in Farm Bureau.  And, you know, I worked really hard at it while I had it. It ran its course, but, the Lord blessed me and brought me back home. I’m here enjoying being a farmer.”