Patrick Leahy: “I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the efforts and contributions of a longtime friend and advocate for dairy…”

“I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the efforts and contributions of a longtime friend and advocate for dairy farmers in Vermont and across the country, Bob Gray. As he retires later this month, he leaves an enduring imprint on Vermont's bedrock agricultural sector. I first met Bob in 1978 when he joined the staff of Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords, who passed away in 2014. Bob and Jim were an unstoppable force, pushing in the late seventies for Federal legislation that eventually became the 1981 federal Farmland Protection Policy Act. Bob understood the growing urgency of protecting the Nation's working landscapes from development, fragmentation, and speculation--and especially for rural States like Vermont. He also understood that, so long as farmers had a voice and a seat at the table, conservation and agriculture could be mutually reinforcing, not adversarial. Bob's love for the land and those who steward it comes naturally, having been raised on a dairy farm in Cayuga County, NY. After earning his bachelor of science degree in animal science at Cornell University, he served the Nation as an Army officer in the First Infantry Division out of Fort Riley, KS, before joining the New York National Guard and serving for 3 more years, rising to the rank of captain. Since 1990, Bob has led the Northeast Dairy Farmers Cooperatives, a trade association representing dairy farmers in Vermont and the region.…”