Lower Tule River Director Named Top Farmer
Farmer of the Year, Tom Barcellos
Tipton dairyman and diversified farmer Tom Barcellos, a Director of the Lower Tule River Irrigation District and the Tule River Association, will be honored by the Kiwanis Club of Tulare with its 53rd Farmer of the Year Award.
An awards luncheon will be held at 12 noon Tuesday, March 19, at the Heritage Complex in Tulare.
The owner of Barcellos Farms and T-Bar Dairy in Tipton, Barcellos is a partner in White Gold Dairy and LGT Harvesting. He runs a large dairy operation and a custom farming business and employs two of his sons-in-law.
MANY SERVICE DUTIES
Barcellos has many other varied involvements. He is a Tulare County Farm Bureau Director and alternate for the Friant Water Authority and Western States Dairy Producers.
Barcellos chairs Western United Dairymen, a statewide association, and the Central Valley Dairy Representative Monitoring Program (a water quality regulatory monitoring program).
He also serves as a Land o’ Lakes area delegate and on the organization’s Policy and Resolutions Committee.
In 2012, Barcellos was selected as the Tulare County Association of Government’s Citizen of the Year for his involvement in the Measure R Citizens Oversight Committee, and for his work in supporting the Tulare County Road Committee, transportation projects and grant funding. He is a long-time Pleasant View School District Trustee.
He serves on the S.P.D.E.S Board as Chairman; and is a key supporter to the Monache High School FFA Boosters. Tom was the charter President of the Kiwanis Club of Tipton in 2001.
‘INNOVATOR AND PROGRESSIVE’
“Tom is an innovator and a progressive farmer and dairyman who has donated countless hours of time, resources and funds to support agriculture and many worthwhile causes,” the Kiwanis Club said in making the announcement.
Barcellos was named the 2006 Conservation Tillage Farmer Innovator by the University of California and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Tillage (CT) Workgroup.
