Brian O’Toole elected USW secretary-treasurer

The U.S. Wheat Associates board elected O’Toole in a slate including Chairman Darrell Davis of Ipswich, SD, who will become Past Chairman, Vice Chairman Dan Hughes of Venango, NE, who will become Chairman and Secretary-Treasurer Roy Motter of Brawley, CA, who will become Vice Chairman. The new USW officers officially begin their one-year terms at the organization’s annual meeting, June 29, 2013, in Rapid City, SD.

O’Toole began his farming career after attending the State School of Science in Wahpeton, ND. He and his cousin Tom O’Toole operate O’Toole Farms where they produce hard red spring and hard red winter wheat, including seed wheat, dry beans, soybeans, corn and sugar beets. In 1996, O’Toole took over a seed cleaning and conditioning business started by his father Richard O’Toole.

“My father saw potential in wheat and that led him to start that seed business,” O’Toole said. “Now I am expanding it because like him, I still see potential in wheat. Running for this office is my commitment to get more involved in developing exports because I think no crop has more potential than wheat to feed the kids in this world.”

O’Toole is an experienced agricultural and community leader. He serves on the North Dakota Wheat Commission, on the board of the Wheat Marketing Center in Portland, OR and is Chairman of SBARE Wheat Granting Committee. He is also past president of the North Dakota Crop Improvement and Seed Association and past president of Crystal Farmers Elevator Co-op. O’Toole has received the Young Outstanding Farmer Award, Master Farmer Award and Friends of 4-H Award. Additionally, he and his wife, Sara, were Pembina County NDSU Harvest Bowl Honorees. They have four grown children, two of whom have returned to farming.