GFB News Magazine

Izlar is GFB Commodity Award recipient

Posted on August 31, 2025 6:33 PM

Bob Izlar, left, accepts the 2025 GFB Commodity Award from GFB President Tom McCall./ Photo by Jennifer Whittaker

Bob Izlar, a lifelong advocate for Georgia’s forestry sector, is the 2025 Georgia Farm Bureau Commodity Award recipient.

Izlar spent 47 years working in the forestry industry. He began his career in 1974 as a timber procurer for Brunswick Pulp Land Company. He served as a division forester for the American Pulpwood Association for six years until becoming executive vice president of the Mississippi Forestry Association in 1984. 

In 1987, Izlar was named executive director of the Georgia Forestry Association (GFA), a position he held until March of 1998 when he began serving as founding director of the University of Georgia Harley Langdale Jr. Center for Forest Business. He retired from UGA in January 2021, then served on an interim basis from July 2021 until Jan. 2022. 

During his time leading the GFA, Izlar built strong relationships with Farm Bureau and other ag advocates. He worked with GFB to develop and pass the first conservation use value assessment legislation that allows farm and forestland to be taxed on its current use rather than market value.

After serving in the U.S. Army from 1969-1974, Izlar served in the reserves until 2006, reaching the rank of colonel.

A native of Ware County, Izlar earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in forest management from the UGA Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources in the early 1970s. He earned a master’s degree in finance from Georgia Southern University in 1977.

Izlar and his late wife, Janice, have two children and three grandchildren. He lives in Danielsville.