Tennessee Council of Cooperatives honors Paul Binkley
Former TFC Director of Training recognized as outstanding advocate
The Tennessee Council of Cooperatives (TCC) recently gave special recognition to Paul Binkley, former director of training and education at Tennessee Farmers Cooperative (TFC) and a long-term representative of the TCC, for his outstanding work to promote the cooperative business model throughout his long and influential career. The acknowledgement took place at the Tennessee Young Leaders Conference, held February 21-22 in Franklin.
Paul was praised for his passion, confidence, determination, accomplishments, motivation, and fun personality while being a strong advocate and noteworthy contributor to the agricultural cooperative system and promoting cooperatives of all types.
Paul began his career in 1975 working as a management trainee and credit manager for Davidson Farmers Cooperative in Nashville. Throughout his career, Paul held key positions at Ralston Purina, Farm Centers, Inc., and Terra International, before returning to Tennessee Farmers Cooperative in August 1990.
While at TFC, Paul worked as a nursery specialist, state sales specialist, customer product sales manager, retail development manager, and regional manager. Then Paul accepted the role of director of training and education in December 2015. Within this role, Paul was responsible for hiring and training young leaders who would become Co-op managers and leaders across the state of Tennessee. Many of today’s Co-op decision makers can trace the beginning of their careers to Paul Binkley.
“Paul is well known for his abundance of energy and devotion to things that he believes in,” said Jimmy Ogilvie, TFC Hardware Department manager and TCC board member, while introducing his former coworker and friend. “Paul is a great teacher. He loved teaching Bible study classes at church just as much as he enjoyed meeting directors, overseeing Co-op manager retreats, and conducting education classes for TFC’s interns and management trainees. Paul’s confidence in what he was doing was derived from his preparation. I have never known a time when Paul was not well-prepared for whatever the risks or task was at hand, and his confidence impacted coworkers to follow suit.”
Representatives from the Tennessee Council of Cooperatives donated a check for $1,000 to Ag in the Classroom in honor of Paul Binkley. Shown from left are: Scott Bohanan, Tennessee Farmers Cooperative; Mary Beth Shackelford, CoBank; Dan Bond, Tennessee Department of Agriculture; Ethan Loyd, Bledsoe Telephone Cooperative Fiber; BJ Bernard, Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association; Scott Lewis, Farm Credit Services Mid-America; Paul Binkley, Tennessee Farmers Cooperative; Dan Strasser, Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation; Seth Roberts, Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation; Jimmy Ogilvie, Tennessee Farmers Cooperative; and Troy Duggar, Center for Profitable Agriculture.
ProTrition Chief Executive Officer Joe Huffine, one of Paul’s former supervisors, was on hand at the event. Jimmy quoted Joe as saying that “he has never worked with an individual that had such a level of determination and accomplishment as Paul.” Joe noted that through the years, Paul created and successfully launched at TFC a new turf, nursery, and retail development program, as well as a digital training course that included videos that Paul created for store employees, directors, trainees, and TFC employees. In each instance, he said, Paul’s determination to make these projects successful was unmatched, and he accomplished his objective every time.
Paul served on the Tennessee Council of Cooperatives from 2018 to 2020, accepting leadership responsibilities for the organization and working to promote cooperative principles with young people such as FFA members at the state conventions. Paul retired from TFC in 2020, having worked over 45 years in various roles for agriculture.
“He has been faced with the biggest challenge of his life, and he’s risen to that challenge,” said Jimmy. “Late in his career, Paul was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, a progressive neurological disorder. Upon receiving his diagnosis, Paul began a journey on learning as much as he could about the disease and what he could do to slow the progression.
“In the latter part of 2024, Paul was a successful participant in a new experimental procedure that required him to undergo two brain surgeries to attach electrodes to help reduce some of the movements associated with Parkinson’s. Paul is a fighter and has outwitted the Parkinson’s to a great extent with his determination, drive, and motivation.”
In honor of Paul and his outstanding contributions throughout the years to train young leaders in the cooperative system, the Tennessee Council of Cooperatives donated $1,000 to Agriculture in the Classroom.
“Most of my life wasn’t planned, it just kind of happened,” Paul told the crowd of young leaders. “But I can honestly tell you, it’s a wonderful journey. When you put others first and try to help them in any way you can, it’s amazing. You get paid back 10 times more.
“A lot of times, you may think, 'Well, I didn't make very much money on this deal, or I didn’t do this or that.’ But I can tell you that it’s the friends you meet and the books you read that influence what you end up enjoying most in life.”
“I’m so grateful for this recognition,” Paul added. “It’s one of the best days of my life.” Paul and his wife, Donna, reside in Smyrna and enjoy traveling, bowling, reading, and spending time with their five grandchildren.
