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Before
Bill Hawks became under secretary for marketing and regulatory
programs he spent most of his career as a full-time farmer growing nearly
every commodity you can think of except, perhaps, endive. He learned at
his father’s knee, growing up on a small dairy farm, near Hernando, Miss.,
where the family also raised a few pigs and chickens and grew cotton.
“We had a very diverse operation,” he said.
He used that green thumb to help pay for college, growing fresh vegetables: peas, butter beans, snap beans, and squash. After earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in agricultural economics at Mississippi State University, plans to go on for a Ph.D. were forgotten after Hawks experienced “a life-changing event.”
He got married. Then he and his bride started their own dairy, continued growing vegetables, and got a loan from Hawks’ father to buy the first tractor. That was in the early 1970s when Hawks also began renting land to grow row crops.
Over time the Hawks operation grew to 12,000 acres in three counties in northern Mississippi. Like many farmers, as Hawks’ operation expanded so did his involvement with various farm organizations. “It was a natural evolution to move into the political arena,” he said. But his service as a Mississippi State Senator from 1994-1999 meant the operation had to be scaled back to the 7,700 acres of soybeans, wheat, and corn still flourishing today. Still Hawks managed, along the way, to operate and own an agricultural aerial application service as well as a recreational airport and part of a farm management company. “I just never could keep a job,” he quipped.
That is until he was tapped to be under secretary for marketing and regulatory programs. “Before coming to Washington, I didn’t know really what I would find. The MRP mission area budget was about the same as the general fund budget of the state of Mississippi. But the people, the career people, are dedicated, hard-working, and that is the thing that has made the transition much easier. It’s all about the people,” he said.
Last Book Read: “The Rising Tide,” (about the Mississippi Delta region) by John M. Barry
Last Movie Seen: “Something’s Gotta Give,” with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton
Hobbies: “Work. Well, I don’t play golf and I don’t fish, so I’d have to say travel and driving through the countryside.”
Favorite Weekend Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with cheese, grits, and hot sauce
Priorities in the Months Ahead: “I serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States and the President has told us ‘to continue to do our job.’ We are going to continue to run this mission area--marketing and regulatory programs--as efficiently and as effectively as we can.” •
--Patricia Klintberg