Barcellos named Farmer of the Year

The Kiwanis Club of Tulare selected as its 53rd Farmer of the Year Tipton area dairyman and diversified farmer, Tom Barcellos.
The awards luncheon will be held noon Tuesday, March 19, at the Heritage Complex in Tulare. Tickets are $20 in advance from Kiwanis Club members and various businesses in Tulare, tickets will be $25 at the door.
This year’s event also coincides with the celebration of National Agriculture Week.
Barcellos is owner of Barcellos Farms and T-Bar Dairy in Tipton and a partner in White Gold Dairy and LGT Harvesting. He runs a large dairy operation and a custom farming business and employs two of his son-in-laws in the family operations.
He and his wife, Felomena, have three grown daughters. He has several grandchildren that are his pride and joy. He is active in church, community and civic leadership roles throughout Tulare County.
Barcellos is an innovator and a progressive farmer and dairyman who has donated countless hours of time, resources and funds to support agriculture and many worthwhile causes.
He became a member of Western United Dairymen while his family was still young. He was a 4-H Dairy Leader when his three daughters began showing heifers. His family became members of the California Holstein Association and South San Joaquin Holstein Association. And, he served on the Pleasant View School Board after his daughters began attending school there. In that same year he entered the dairy business and started T-Bar Dairy.
He was named the 2006 Conservation Tillage Farmer Innovator by the University of California and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Tillage Workgroup.  His continued work in agricultural conservation tillage practices is cutting edge, and makes Tom a leader in this industry and this emerging field of technology.
 He serves as a director on numerous boards including Tulare County Farm Bureau, Lower Tule River Irrigation District, Tule River Association, Friant Water Users Authority and Western States Dairy Producers, as well as currently serving as chairman of Western United Dairymen, a statewide association, and chairing the Central Valley Dairy Representative Monitoring Program, a water quality regulatory monitoring program.  He also serves as a Land o’ Lakes area delegate and on their Policy and Resolutions Committee.
In 2012, Barcellos was selected as the Tulare County Association of Government’s Citizen of the Year for his involvement in the Measure R Citizens’ Oversight Committee and for his work in supporting the Tulare County Road Committee and transportation projects and grant funding for road improvements in the county. He was chair of the TCAG Measure R Citizens Committee for several years and served as the Farm Bureau’s representative to the committee.
In addition to serving on the county’s TCAG committees and school board, he also serves on the S.P.D.E.S board as chairman and is a key supporter to the Monache FFA Boosters.
To purchase tickets for $20 each in advance, contact Celeste Thomas at 686-5854 ext. 10936.