RICHMOND, Va. — Pittsylvania County beef, tobacco and poultry producer Robert J. Mills Jr. of Callands was recognized Jan. 25 for 10 years of service on the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation board of directors.

VFBF President Wayne F. Pryor presented an award to Mills at a Farm Bureau board meeting in Richmond.

As the organization’s District 10 director, Mills represents Farm Bureau producer members in Campbell, Halifax and Pittsylvania counties.

He serves as chairman of the VFBF Poultry Advisory Committee and vice chairman of the VFBF Flue-Cured Tobacco Advisory Committee, and is a member of the VFBF Livestock Advisory Committee.

Mills owns and operates Briar View Farms, which includes a pullet breeder operation that raises 34,000 birds annually for Perdue Farms and a 300-head cow-calf operation. He also grows conventional flue-cured, dark-fired and cigar wrapper tobacco, as well as organic flue-cured tobacco, soybeans and wheat.

He is a past president of the Pittsylvania County Farm Bureau and previously served on that organization’s board of directors. He also previously served as president of the board of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Mills serves on the Virginia Tobacco Board and on the boards of the Virginia Agricultural Growers Association and Tobacco Associates Inc.  He is chairman of the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Dean’s Advisory Council and a past member of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

Mills was named Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Famer of the Year in 2017 and named to the 2020 Virginia Business magazine Virginia 500 list.

He and his wife, Cindy, have two sons, Logan and Holden.

–Alice Kemp, Virginia Farm Bureau