GFB News Magazine

Hardy elected to AFBF Women's Leadership Committee

by Jennifer Whittaker

Posted on February 22, 2026 9:37 AM

AFBF Women's Leadership Committee Southern Region Chair Julie Hardy. / Photo by Logan Thomas

Julie Hardy of Thomas County is serving a two-year term on the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Women’s Leadership Committee (WLC). She was elected Jan. 10 during the 107th AFBF Convention. The AFBF WLC provides women with opportunities for growth and development to sharpen their advocacy skills to inspire change.

“As a farmer, I’m so excited to get to represent the Southeast on this national committee. I’m grateful to be a part of this organization that is so much like a family and works so hard to represent farmers,” Hardy said. “When I was giving my campaign speech, and I looked out in the audience and saw so many Georgia faces there to support me, it meant so much to me.”

 Hardy ran against two candidates from North Carolina and Virginia to be elected as the AFBF WLC Southern Region representative. The AFBF Southern Region includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. 

While asking AFBF members from the organization's Southern Region to elect her to represent them on the AFBF WLC, Hardy shared her story as a female farmer and why she's passionate about encouraging other women to advocate for their family farms.

GFB WLC 8th District Chairwoman Alicia Berry nominated Hardy for the position.

“I know Julie’s history and I know her passion for agriculture,” Berry said. “I know she’s going to give 100% to represent Georgia and the other Southeastern states on the AFBF committee.”

Hardy served on the GFB WLC Committee from December 2022 to December 2025 representing GFB’s 9th District. She chaired the GFB WLC Committee in 2025 and is now an ex officio member of the GFB committee.

The GFB WLC committee works to teach children and consumers how farmers grow their food and increase their understanding of the importance of agriculture. The committee also equips women across the state to engage with their local, state and national elected officials to discuss how legislation affects farms and to take on leadership roles in their communities.

 Hardy farms in partnership with her father, Bobby Hurst, and her brother, Bert Hurst. The family grows cotton, peanuts, soybeans and wheat and runs a small herd of beef cattle. She and her husband, Robby Hardy, have one daughter, Kate.

Hardy is an active member of the Thomas County Farm Bureau and is the TCFB vice president. She is a 2023 graduate of the AFBF Communications Boot Camp. She is a member of the 2025-2026 UGA Advancing Georgia Leaders in Agriculture & Forestry program. 

Hardy is the first Georgian on the AFBF WLC since 2001, when Peggy Smith of Turner County served a one-year term on the AFBF committee that year representing the AFBF Southern Region. In 1984, Bertie Mae McDonald, of Washington County, became the first GFB member to serve on the AFBF committee. She served on the committee for six years.

GFB's delegation to the AFBF Women’s Annual Meeting, included from left: Henrietta Duvall, Doris Malone, Kathy Sanders, Alicia Berry, Carol McQueen, Della Fowler, Julie Hardy, Jane Wooten, Romy Strickland, Michaela White, Laney Kirk, Katie Malone, Betty Sue Tate & GFB Women's Leadership Coordinator Heather King. /Photo by Jennifer Whittaker