By Chris Aldridge
Kentucky Ag News

Dr. Tony Brannon is known informally as “the Dean of Hemp.”

Under his leadership, Murray State University’s Hutson School of Agriculture planted the first crop of legal hemp in the U.S. after pilot programs were allowed under the 2014 Farm Bill. When the federal Drug Enforcement Administration threatened to seize the hemp seeds, Dr. Brannon is famous for saying, "If they want our seeds, they will have to come pick them out of the field!"

Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Dr. Ryan Quarles was among more than 300 ag leaders, former students, and friends who attended a surprise retirement dinner to honor, roast, and toast Dr. Brannon Dec. 6 on the floor of the CFSB Center, the university’s basketball arena.

Dr. Brannon has served Murray State for more than 34 years, the last 18 as dean. He joined the faculty in 1988 as an assistant professor of agricultural education. Dr. Brannon chaired the Agriculture Department from 1997-2000 and was coordinator of academic programs for the School of Agriculture from 2000-04.

A veteran of local, statewide, and regional leadership, Dr. Brannon brought a wealth of experience, leadership, talent, and work ethic to every project with which he was associated, according to a short biography provided by Murray State.

After becoming dean, Dr. Brannon was chairman of the Kentucky Agricultural Council from 2006-08 and chaired a statewide task force that developed “A Pathway for Kentucky’s Agriculture and its Rural Communities: 2007-2012 Strategic Plan.” He again served as KAC chair and provided leadership for the 2013-18 strategic plan titled “Connecting Strategies to Better Kentucky’s Agricultural Economy and Rural Communities.”

Dr. Brannon said he believes Murray State’s partnership with Murray-based Hutson Inc. has taken the agriculture school to a new level. In 2010, the school was renamed Hutson School of Ag after the company, which owns a chain of 29 John Deere dealerships. The Hutson family donated a 160-acre farm that became the school’s farm laboratory.

To promote agri-energy in the region, Dr. Brannon was instrumental in forming the West Kentucky AgBioworks Initiative. Most recently, he served as a member of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture Hunger Initiative Statewide Task Force, representing the Delta Region of western Kentucky. Dr. Brannon has a passion for local food development from production to processing, according to his bio.

Dr. Brannon manages and operates his family’s farm just south of the Kentucky border near Puryear, Tenn., raising corn, wheat, soybeans, and beef cattle. In 2008, he became involved with Memphis BioDimensions, where he was one of the members of its 25-farmer network and serves on its five-state regional steering committee.

Murray State’s campus is only nine miles from his farm, so Dr. Brannon didn’t have to travel far as a student in the late 1970s. He earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education in 1981 and a master’s degree in 1982.

Dr. Brannon’s first job after college was teaching agriculture at Peabody High School in Trenton, Tenn., where he was also the FFA advisor. But he always dreamed of returning to Murray State, writing “MSU” in soap on his bathroom mirror as a reminder of his goal. After earning his doctorate from Oklahoma State University in 1988, Dr. Brannon realized his dream by returning to teach at Murray State.

“I wish Dr. Brannon well in his retirement,” Commission Quarles said. “Kentucky agriculture will certainly miss him, his big smile, and his affable personality.”