Local man works to impact ag industry, Yuma community

  Tim Dunn wears many hats as a farmer, a business owner, an activist for the agriculture industry and a family man.

  He’s a farmer who grows alternative niche crops. He's a businessman who owns and operates a grain company that’s been recently certified for organic processing. And as first vice president of the Arizona Farm Bureau, he lobbies for Arizona issues that impact the state’s farmers and ranchers.

   But his family and his faith come first.

   He and his wife, Eileen, have made a major commitment to Champion Church. He serves on the board, and at Christmas, the Dunns provide
the equipment and straw bales for the church's "Jesus is Born” production. Dunn draws the line on singing in the choir.

  Not surprisingly, Dunn also serves on the board of his two sons’ hockey team. While time consuming, he said, it offers its rewards even beyond benefitting his boys.

  “It’s fun. We travel a lot," he said.

  Wearing all those hats keeps Dunn busy, but he's learned to balance.

  “When you do things for the right reason, you’re blessed," he said. "You try to bless people and try to do the right things. If people understand why you’re doing them, it all comes together."

  That's true, whether for his family, his church, his community or the industry he grew up in and is now carrying on as the next generation.

  After high school, Dunn established Tim Dunn Farms with his father in 1984, growing cotton, wheat and produce locally and in central Arizona.

  Then in 1993, they established Dunn Grain Company and began buying and selling wheat throughout Arizona.

  But trying to do business in two locations spurred them to streamline their operation, Dunn said. They began leasing out their land to other produce growers for the winter and focus their farming efforts on spring rotation crops such as cotton and wheat.

  Dunn is always on the look-out for innovative opportunities to enhance the company's bottom line. The company quit growing cotton and has turned to garbanzo beans and black-eyed peas.

  Though Dunn Grain is currently the only processor of edible beans in Yuma, the company has several growers who are growing 3,000 acres of black-eyed peas this summer, he said. “The grain company is trying to find things so we can have a complement for our growers. If it works for Tim Dunn Farms, it should work for my other growers.”

  Dunn found another opportunity with a twist on wheat production. Tim Dunn Farms is also growing kosher wheat for a Jewish company to make matzo, unleavened bread that is eaten during Passover.

  A specific process is followed to qualify the wheat as kosher, Dunn said. Rabbis occupy the field to watch over and bless the crop and oversee the harvest.

  “Their religious views have been handed down for centuries," he said. "They want to be as close to hand harvesting as they can. Basically, they want to make sure it’s unadulterated, that nobody contaminates it … It’s under their watchful eye for three weeks before it’s harvested until it gets to New York.”

  In another development, Dunn Grain recently became certified to be an organic seed processor and will be processing organic wheat for local growers. Going organic was just a step up from the company’s standards, he said.

  “The things that make us different than just a normal seed business is we’re in the edible bean business," he said. "So we cannot have any contamination of any kind of seed-treated product in our cleaning system. If you’re keeping to that standard, it’s easy to go organic.”

  To help ensure his chosen vocation remains viable, Dunn is very involved with the Arizona Farm Bureau. He has served as first vice president for three years now, and he was second vice president for two years prior to that. The agriculture lobbying organization represents 18,000 members in 13 counties in Arizona.

  It often carries concerns of growers from the county level the national level, such as immigration and food safety. He even fields phone calls from national media seeking comments on immigration issues.

  “If we don’t keep American agriculture viable, it’s going to go offshore,” he said.

Nancy Gilkey can be reached at ngilkey@yumasun.com or 539-6851.