A dairy farmer’s handshake 

Local co-op leadership is resilient

I’LL NEVER FORGET J.E. Smith, the longtime chairman of the board at Fleming-Mason Energy, who passed away in 2019. J.E. was a soft-spoken dairy farmer with a handshake so strong that you had to mentally prepare yourself when you saw it coming. He was also full of wisdom about navigating change—wisdom I desperately needed, first as a young engineer, and then as the cooperative’s CEO. 

J.E. lived through a precipitous decline in Kentucky dairy farming. In 1935, the year before he was born, 227,302 Kentucky farms reported having milked cows during all or part of the reporting year. In 2002, the year before I joined Fleming-Mason Energy as an engineer, fewer than 3,000 Kentucky farms had a milk cow herd. And in 2023, the most recent year for which we have data, there were just 359 dairies left in the state. 

It’s a familiar story—consolidation and economies of scale, pricing volatility, labor costs and policy changes hollowed out what used to be a thriving agricultural industry. But J.E. was never one to give up. He held on to his dairy farm, but he also diversified, growing tobacco, corn and soybeans alongside his milking operation. J.E. was resilience personified, and I always loved visiting him at the farm to talk about co-op business and to glean his wisdom. 

In this issue of Kentucky Living, we’re looking at electric cooperative boards of directors, and the important role they play. I’ve been in co-op boardrooms for more than 20 years, and I’ve learned that change is relentless in the energy world. But I’ve also learned just how blessed we are with local co-op leaders who provide a steady hand during challenging times. 

Co-op directors are your neighbors. They’re farmers, accountants, lawyers and small business owners. Whatever their profession, they’ve learned to be resilient in many ways, and they bring that local experience and expertise to the boardroom in service of your community. 

The energy world continues to evolve, and we face new challenges daily. Navigating change can be hard, but thanks to the resilient leadership of electric cooperative directors, you can be confident that co-ops will rise to the occasion. Local leaders like J.E. are the backbone of cooperatives across the state, and I couldn’t be more grateful for their contributions. We are in good hands.