TPPB Directors
James Martin
Brownfield, Texas
James Martin’s son, Glen, and grandson, Aaron, farm in Terry and Gaines County on the Martin family farm, as well as farm their own land. Martin is retired these days, but still rents his property to Glen and Aaron and remains active in his partnership, Martin & Son. The Martin’s farms approximately grow 5,500 acres of peanuts, cotton and wheat.
The Martin family has been farming for six generations. In 1916, Martin’s great-grandfather and grandfather moved to Terry County to start farming. Martin has been farming since in high school in 1960.
“Farming is what I’ve always wanted to do,” Martin said. “Back then it was really hard work and a lot of manual labor. Even before I was a teenager, I would help my dad plow and I came to realize that farming was something that was just in my blood.”
Martin serves on the TPPB board of directors and has been an active board member since the board expanded to West Texas. When producers began farming peanuts in West Texas, TPPB knew that peanuts would need to be represented.
Along with being active in TPPB, Martin also served on the Western Peanut Growers Board, county commissioner for eight years, president of Farm Bureau, and served on the Windham Co-op Gin Board, where he was a charter member of a merger with Loop Co-op, which later became the Tri-County Co-op.
In addition to serving different boards, Martin was selected as outstanding conservation farmer of Terry County in 1994.
“I always try to keep in mind why I am on the board and who I am representing,” Martin said. “I try to stand for those things that are best for the producer.”
The peanut board has achieved many goals in the past, Martin said, but a central focus for the board currently is to work on The National Genomics Initiative, as well as new varieties and disease-resistant varieties of peanuts. Martin said these new advancements would be a positive thing not only for producers, but for manufacturers too.
Martin has been married to his wife Sharlene for more than 48 years and they have two sons: Glen, 44, who also farms, and David, 42, who now lives in Fla. where he works for a company that makes medical equipment.
“God’s first, family’s second and third is farming,” Martin said.
