Don Butler
Tuscon - Pima County
Inducted in 2023
Don Butler served as the Director of Agriculture for Arizona from 2003 to 2013. Shortly after his retirement he traveled with wife Blue to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association convention in Nashville, Tennessee, to receive the Swan Family Leader-ship Award for his many years of service to the beef industry.
Don not only supported the beef industry in Arizona, but both nationally and internationally. Don grew up on his family’s lemon and avocado farm in Carpinteria, California. He remembers as a young boy in the1930’s, helping his father with the smudge pots in the cold winter temperatures. They would getup around 2:00 a.m. to light the pots and put them out at sunrise. Fortunately improvements in technology allowed the family to become one of the first citrus growers in the area to install wind machines powered by five-cylinder Kinner aircraft engines and the smudge pots became part of the farm’s past.
Don enlisted in the Army Air Corps following high school and after his service enrolled at the University of Arizona. Earning a Bachelor of Science degree in animal husbandry; Don even found time to serve as student body president. After graduation, Don landed a job in Phoenix working for Tovrea Land and Cattle Company. He worked for Producer’s Livestock for three years and then headed back to Tucson where he developed the Livestock Loan Department for the Southern Arizona Bank and Trust.
Don’s career took him around Arizona as he next went to Yuma with the First National Bank’s Livestock Loan Department followed by going back to Producers buying and marketing cattle in Yuma. Returning to Tucson, Don served as president of the Coronado Cattle. This management company, which Don later purchased, had cattle in twenty-three different feed yards. He became involved with the Arizona Cattle Feeders and on their Board going up the ladder to be-come president in 1981.
In the early 1980s, Don served as chairman of the U.S. Meat Export Federation Board. He went to the Singapore office with Bud Middau and then on to Japan with Phil Seng. Don remembers the Japanese business cards included the line which translated meant, “You are not welcome.” They didn’t want U.S. Beef and the negotiations began. In 1988, the United States and Japan signed an agreement to phase out Japan’s quota system for beef imports. The 1988 agreement culminated a series of negotiations about Japan’s beef imports and defused what had been a major source of trade friction. The size and value of Japan’s beef imports as well as the length and intensity of the negotiations made this a leading example of bilateral problem-solving in agricultural trade. Don received the Distinguished Service Award for his chairmanship of the Federation.
Don was installed as National Cattlemen’s Association President (now called National Cattlemen’s Beef Association) in San Antonio in 1986. Some of the challenges to the beef industry during his term were the dairy buyout and the futures controversy. The Beef Checkoff had passed in 1985 and was initiated in 1986 during Don’s term. From 1988 through 1998, Don served on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Board of Directors. He also served with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco where he chaired the group’s agricultural advisory council. Don was awarded the bank’s Citation for Distinguished Service for his chairmanship.
President Reagan, aware of Don’s growing resume of service to agriculture, appointed him to a two-year post on the President’s committee of trade and negotiations. President George H. W. Bush asked him to serve two additional terms on the committee.
In the early 1990’s, Don was chairman of Agrolink Corp. in Tucson. It is a company formed to promote international agribusiness, provide financial advice and services on transactions between Mexico and the U.S. under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Prior to that he was chairman and president of Shasta Foods in Los Angeles, an international beef production company owned by a Japanese company. Shasta had ownership in a cow-calf operation in Cottonwood, California and Monterey County Cattle Feeders in Gonzales, California.
In 2003, Don received a call from a feedlot owner who encouraged him to throw his hat into the ring as Governor Janet Napolitano was looking for a new director of the Arizona Department of Agriculture. He was appointed to the post as a committee of state agriculturists selected him from a list of candidates. Upon taking the Directorship, Don’s challenge was to pull the department and the agriculture industry together and create a great relationship.
One of Don’s top priorities was for food inspection. The agency’s livestock division was understaffed; however, the agency was charged with mandatory slaughterhouse inspections, milk inspections, and other related services. He also worked to create a more efficient and better produce inspection service. The inspection agency for produce grown in Mexico and headed to the U.S. was moved from the Mexican side of the border to Nogales, Arizona which decreased the inspection costs. There was not a single food safety recall in Arizona during Don’s tenure at the ADA.
In reviewing all that Don has done for the beef industry and for agriculture; it is hard to visualize how he had time for all he has accomplished in his 97 years. During his tenure as ADA director, Don traveled from Tucson to Phoenix on Sunday afternoons, worked the week at his office, living in an apartment, then heading home to Tucson on Friday afternoons.
In retirement, he enjoys spending family time with his wife, their six children, thirteen grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren. Don kept a hand in the beef industry by serving as a consultant to transport feeder calves from Mexico to Arizona and California.
Bas Aja, writing on behalf of the Arizona Cattle Feeders’ Association, points out that all Don’s work for ranchers provided them with stability. His efforts still stands today exemplifying his character–leaving a legacy of leadership. He stands high on the list of those who gave their time and resources to always advance agriculture. Arizona’s beef industry is proud of Don, his many accomplishments, and his dedication to Arizona agriculture.
Affiliations
Arizona Director of Agriculture 2003-2013
Arizona Cattle Feeders’ Association
Arizona Cattle Grower’s Association
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
U. S. Meat Federation Board
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Board of Directors
Federal Reserve Board of San Francisco
Arizona 4-H Hall of Fame
Arizona 4-H Youth Foundation Board of Directors
