Beef producer Thomas Graves Jr. of Orange was re-elected Dec. 1 to a second three-year term on the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation board of directors. Elections of directors were held at the organization’s 2011 Annual Convention in Norfolk.

As a board member Graves represents Farm Bureau producer members in Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, King George, Madison, Orange, Prince William, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties.

He is chairman of the VFBF Soybean and Feed Grains Advisory Committee, vice chairman of the VFBF Natural and Environmental Resources & Forestry Advisory Committee and a member of the VFBF Land Use Advisory Committee.

Graves has served on the Orange County Farm Bureau board of directors for 20 years, serving as president twice. He served on the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation AgPAC board of trustees for five years, serving on the VFBF AgPAC executive committee the last two years. He served four years on the American Farm Bureau Federation Forestry Advisory Committee. He also worked with AFBF and VFBF to hold the first Farm Bureau-sponsored campaign school for citizens running for public office in Virginia.

Graves served four years on the Orange County Board of Supervisors and has served on various other boards, including those of Orange County Senior Living Inc., Dogwood Village Foundation and the Orange County Fair.

He and his family operate a 1,500-acre beef cattle farm. Graves and his wife, Jenny, have two grown children and four grandchildren. He attends Macedonia Christian Church.

With more than 150,000 members in 88 county Farm Bureaus, VFBF is Virginia’s largest farmers’ advocacy group. Farm Bureau is a non-governmental, nonpartisan, voluntary organization committed to protecting Virginia’s farms and ensuring a safe, fresh and locally grown food supply.