Donnell Brown: National FFA President 1989–90
Texas · No. 63 of 100 · National FFA President 1989–90
At a Glance
- Office: National FFA President, 1989–90 (No. 63 of 100)
- Home state: Texas, from Throckmorton
- Earlier office: Texas FFA President
- College: Texas Tech University, B.S. in animal business, 1993
- Career: Owner and manager of the R.A. Brown Ranch, a registered-cattle seedstock operation founded in 1895
- Honors: Texas Farm Bureau Young Farmer & Rancher of the Year; Beef Improvement Federation Continuing Service Award (2020)
Donnell Brown’s path after the national presidency is one of the straightest lines on this site: out of the blue jacket and back to a ranch his family has operated since 1895. He is now the fifth generation to lead the R.A. Brown Ranch in Throckmorton, Texas, and one of the most visible seedstock producers in the American beef business.
From Throckmorton to the National Presidency
Brown grew up on the family ranch in Throckmorton County, in north Texas. He served as Texas FFA president and, in 1989–90, as National FFA president. The Texas FFA Association’s list of national officers from Texas shows him as the state’s president-level national officer for that year, followed in the next few years by Curtis Childers (1993–94), and Corey Rosenbusch (1996–97). His year was one of the first following the 1988 renaming of the organization as the National FFA Organization, a change intended to reflect the broader range of careers in agriculture.
College and Return to the Ranch
Brown earned a bachelor’s degree in animal business from Texas Tech University in 1993. Texas Tech’s agricultural sciences college notes that his time on campus overlapped with his service as Texas FFA president and later National FFA president, and it credits the ranch’s work with the university on the Hotlander, a four-breed composite developed on the ranch with Texas Tech’s help.
R.A. Brown Ranch
The ranch raises registered Angus, Red Angus, SimAngus and Hotlander cattle and has held an annual production sale since 1974 on the second Wednesday of October. Texas Tech and Block & Bridle materials describe Donnell and his wife Kelli, herself a former National FFA President (Kelli Evans, 1987–88), as the fifth generation to own and manage the operation, selling about 600 bulls each October. The ranch has received the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Cattle Business of the Century Award and has been named Beef Improvement Federation Seedstock Producer of the Year. It also holds an American Quarter Horse Association Best Remuda honor.
Industry Leadership
- Beef Improvement Federation: In June 2020 the BIF presented Brown its Continuing Service Award. The federation said he had helped with strategic planning for four breed associations and for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
- Texas Farm Bureau: Named Young Farmer & Rancher of the Year, according to Texas Tech.
- Speaking and association work: He has keynoted the National Block & Bridle Convention and, in June 2026, helped open the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association convention in Fort Worth, where the association reported his advice on success under the headline of “three tips.”
Why His Story Matters
For students weighing whether to go back to the family operation, Brown’s career is the example in favor. The leadership training from FFA, followed by an agricultural degree and years of volunteer service on boards, led not away from the ranch but deeper into it.
Sources
- Texas FFA Association: National Officers from Texas
- Texas Tech University: Texas Beef Council documentary and CASNR ties (original link no longer resolves; checked Nov. 2026)
- Texas Tech University: National Block & Bridle Convention speakers (original link no longer resolves; checked Nov. 2026)
- Drovers: Brown presented BIF Continuing Service Award
- Beef Improvement Federation: 2020 Continuing Service Award
- Texas Tech University: R.A. Brown Ranch Endowed Scholarship
- Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association: Donnell Brown shares three tips for success