A partnership rooted in farming
Hampton met his wife, Anne, when they were students at the University of Illinois. She grew up on a dairy farm. "Knowing that she understood what I was trying to do, and I understood how hard she had worked," he said, "made for a good beginning for a long 61-year relationship."
If Hampton brags about anyone, it's Anne. He comes back to her again and again, saying none of his leadership roles would have been possible without her support. Every board seat, overseas mission and year in Springfield meant time away from the farm and family, and Anne made it work. When asked what he would tell his younger self, the first thing he said was, "Be glad for a good partner."
Anne was a teacher and a 4-H leader. Joe served on the Shelby County Extension Council and later on the state 4-H board. Together they watched many young people discover what they could do. "To watch young people as they grow into themselves and as they grow up," he said, "is probably, I think, one of the more rewarding things in my life."
Measured by the people who followed
Hampton has a modest way of measuring his own success: by the people who came after him on the IL Corn board. He saw potential in farmers like Leon Corzine and George Obernagel, encouraged them to serve, and couldn't be prouder of what they went on to do. He's careful not to single anyone out, though. He's quick to add his neighbor Don Dorian and the many others who gave their time.
"All these people giving of their time," he said, "to help make our industry be successful and be a place we want to bring our kids."
A seat at the table
Those values of family, service and people run through everything Hampton did, starting at the very beginning of
IL Corn.
Illinois farmers approved the
corn checkoff in a December 1982 referendum, and it began in 1983. Farm Bureau and the state's other farm organizations helped get it off the ground, and Hampton saw it as his duty to get involved. "I just felt like the responsible thing to do [was] to help be a part of directing what was going to be happening in Illinois," he said.
He had already served on the Cooperative Extension Council, and the council encouraged him to run for the new board. Farming was going through hard times when the Corn Marketing Act passed, and Hampton believed farmers needed self-help programs. The checkoff became one, paying for work in corn markets and new uses. For Hampton, though, its biggest value was the voice it gave growers: "that we would be at the table and not have other people making all the decisions."
He gives credit to the people who came before him, like Rollie Main and Bill Mullins. "Not only did these original people give their time, energy and commitment, but they went beyond to sign notes to guarantee the money for the efforts to make this work," he said in
Fifty Years of Illinois Corn History. "You don't find people like that every day in life, and we were fortunate to have those people in Illinois."
The first board came from many different backgrounds, but Hampton calls them "an exceptional group of fifteen people" with a shared vision for farming. "It was exciting to be a part of this, and it helped me to become a clearer thinker," he said.
From the farm to the world stage
In 1984, ICMB began funding the
U.S. Meat Export Federation. Hampton was one of the first board members picked to represent Illinois there. He went on to chair the ICMB board in 1988 and 1989. In 1992, fellow officers from meatpacking, beef, pork, and grain elected him USMEF chairman.
He was in the room for some big moments. He was part of a mission to Russia around the time of its great grain purchase. He was also part of early discussions with Japan before it signed its first beef-citrus agreement. That deal let Japanese shoppers choose U.S. beef for the first time and opened the door to higher-value meat exports. "Illinois Corn checkoff dollars were instrumental in making all of this happen," he said.
Hampton doesn't bring up Japan on his own. His daughter, Heather Hampton-Knodle, does. "Dad was modest because he was also on the ground level in discussions with Japan before they signed the first beef-citrus agreement," she said. "He's always been passionate about adding value to corn through useful end products."
Helping the beef industry plan ahead
Near the end of his time at USMEF, Hampton was appointed to a long-range planning committee for the beef industry. The group brought everyone from packers to producers together to look at how the industry should prepare for the future and better connect with consumers.
Hampton believes that work was instrumental, and the record backs him up. The National Cattlemen's Association's Long Range Planning Task Force concluded that the industry's separate beef organizations "must become one." That led to the 1996 merger that created today's
National Cattlemen's Beef Association. The industry still publishes a new
Beef Industry Long Range Plan every five years.
Leading the Illinois Department of Agriculture
Hampton retired from the Corn Board in 1991 as one of the last of the original directors. He went back to farming full time until 1999, when he was appointed
Illinois Director of Agriculture. He served four years. "I think [it] was one of the more rewarding things," he said, "to know you could be somewhere to help make decisions and represent those that had similar interests, people that were just like you at home, trying to make ends meet and keep their families involved."
He made the most of those four years:
- The Ag Assembly. Hampton helped create this IDOA initiative. It held listening sessions in carefully chosen spots around the state so farmers could say what mattered to them and where agriculture should go. The department then took that feedback to Illinois lawmakers. "All of the ag organizations here in Illinois were hugely supportive," he said. "To know that we could all come together, looking down the road a little ways and saying, 'Hey, it's coming at us, let's get ready and do it together.'"
- Preparing after 9/11. IDOA sponsored a strategic plan for a possible attack on the livestock industry. The plan traced where an introduced animal disease could spread and how to respond. It brought agriculture leaders from across the Midwest to the same table.
- Biotechnology. In the early days of ag biotech in the 1990s and 2000s, the department helped bring that work to the University of Illinois, and Hampton was part of the effort.
- Mexico. Hampton worked hard to host a Mexican trade delegation in Springfield, believing Mexico could become a top trading partner. In recent years, Mexico has been the top buyer of U.S. corn.
- Cuba. In 1999, Gov. George Ryan led an Illinois trade mission to Cuba, becoming the first sitting U.S. governor to visit since the 1959 revolution. Ryan appointed Hampton as one of four people to lead the state's work with Cuba, and a Cuban exhibit appeared at the Illinois State Fair. The market hasn't developed the way they hoped, but the group saw the realities of trading with a communist government firsthand.
Through it all, he kept coming back to the people. "I can't say enough about the quality of people we live with here in the Midwest," he said.
Keep the faith
When he thought more about what he would tell his younger self, Hampton built on that first answer.
"Keep the faith. Have faith in yourself and the people around you. Support your partner that's supporting you when you are designated for some leadership responsibility, and be grateful for the good things that come our way," he said. "We are so fortunate."
That's Joe Hampton: grateful, generous with credit, and the kind of person you want to sit down and talk with. Decades later, the groundwork he helped lay is still paying off for Illinois farmers and the industries they feed.
