MACON — William L. “Bill” Lanier, Sr., recently received the Georgia Farm Bureau Commodity Award in recognition of a lifetime spent in service to agriculture in Georgia and on the national level. Georgia Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall presented the award to Lanier during the 2009 GFB Commodity Conference held Aug. 6 in Perry.

“Bill Lanier has spent his entire life as an advocate for Georgia farmers, first during his 12 years of service in the Georgia General Assembly, then during the six years he served as president of Georgia Farm Bureau, followed by holding numerous director positions at USDA on the national level, “ Duvall said. “It is an honor to present this award to someone who is so dedicated to Georgia agriculture and Georgia Farm Bureau.”

A native of Candler County, Lanier began farming row crops, raising livestock and growing timber at age 20. He is a veteran of World War II and served as a Seabee in the Navy, stationed in the Philippines. He earned degrees from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and the University of Georgia. He has served as the Candler County Farm Bureau president for 21 years.

Lanier served six terms in the Georgia House of Representatives, during which he chaired the House Agriculture Committee from 1954 -1958. While a member of the Georgia General Assembly, Lanier introduced and passed numerous farm and consumer protection legislation. In one session, Lanier wrote and passed 33 farm-related bills inspiring an Atlanta paper to refer to it as the “Farm Session.” He introduced a bill that eliminated the disease Vesicular Exanthema in Georgia’s swine herds, which was later adopted by every state in the United States, resulting in the disease being downgraded in the U.S. to an exotic disease in 1959. He also authored an amendment to the Georgia Constitution to compensate any person, firm or corporation that developed a practical, economic way to eradicate the boll weevil in cotton. This marked the beginning of the Boll Weevil Eradication Program.

Following his service in the Georgia General Assembly, Lanier served as Georgia Farm Bureau president from 1964 to 1970 and was involved with the American Farm Bureau. He left his position as GFB president to go to Washington, D.C., to work for the United States Department of Agriculture. At the USDA he held numerous positions including director of the USDA Tobacco Division, director of the USDA Peanut/Tobacco Division, director of USDA Policy Analysis and as assistant administrator of the Agriculture Stabilization Conservation Service, the predecessor to the current Farm Service Agency.

In 2004, Lanier was inducted into the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Georgia Agriculture Hall of Fame. He is also a past recipient of The Progressive Farmer Man of the Year in Service to Georgia Agriculture Award. In 1995, the Georgia Forestry Association named him the Georgia Tree Farmer of the Year.

Lanier and his wife, Jean, are members of the Metter First Baptist Church.

Founded in 1937, the Georgia Farm Bureau Federation is the state’s largest general farm organization.