Staff Spotlight: John Hubbard

John Hubbard, former Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Sr. Safety Specialist, retired in May with more than 35 years of service. Throughout his tenure in the Safety Department, Hubbard played an instrumental role in developing program offerings and growing its reach.

“When I started, we had basic trainings that we did in classrooms, but that’s it. As time went on, we developed more specialized trainings, like the grain bin safety program,” Hubbard says. 

Through a private grant program, MFBF purchased the first portable grain engulfment simulator in the mid-South in 2015 in an effort to combat the rising number of accidents involving grain engulfment. Since then, Hubbard coordinated and organized hundreds of grain bin safety and extraction training sessions for farmers and first responders in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

See more: Staff Spotlight: Jeff Easterling

“This has been a very rewarding career because there are people walking around that wouldn’t be here if I had not conducted the trainings I did, especially with the grain bin safety simulator,” he says. “The No. 1 thing we can do is prevent the accident. The No. 2 thing is handling it in the safest way possible.”

Hubbard is looking forward to spending time with his family and friends in retirement.