Bill Reiboldt

Bill Reiboldt of Neosho, Missouri, is awarded with the 2018 Dairy Leadership Award. Bill graduated from Neosho High School in 1966. He then attended Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, and received his bachelor’s in Business Administration in 1970. Bill also served in the United States Army and the Missouri National Guard.

For more than 40 years, Bill and his family have owned and operated a farm in Newton County, Missouri. Today, the farm has beef cattle along with some soybeans, wheat, and alfalfa, but for most of those years, the farm also had a dairy operation. Bill’s favorite part of farming was running a dairy operation and he says today that if “he was younger he would still be milking cows and every day milking was a great day.”

In November 2010, Bill was first elected to the Missouri General Assembly, representing District 160 in Newton County. He was reelected in 2012, 2014 and 2016. Bill concluded his last term in the House on December 31, 2018. During his eight years, he was known as “the” champion for dairy in the Missouri General Assembly.

Bill held a number of leadership positions in the House. He was the House representative to the Missouri Ag Foundation Board and served as the chairman of the Joint Committee on Transportation Oversight. While a member of the House, Bill chaired Ag Policy, a Select Committee on Agriculture, and the House Committee on Transportation. He was also a member of four interim committees dealing with transportation, agriculture, and education.

Bill’s greatest legislative achievement for dairy was his sponsorship and leadership resulting in the successful passage of the Missouri Dairy Revitalization Act in 2015 that was signed by Governor Nixon. This legislation was designed to help Missouri dairy producers offset the cost of federal premiums, take a deeper look into and study factors affecting the dairy industry, and encourage young people to join the industry through scholarships.

Bill is also active in several other Missouri and national agriculture organizations. He is a member of Dairy Farmers of America, Missouri Farm Bureau, Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, Missouri Corn Growers Association, Missouri Soybean Association, the National Federation of Independent Business, and the Newton County Farm Bureau.

He has received the “Friend of the Missouri Dairy Farmer” award from the Missouri Dairy Association along with awards and recognition from most of Missouri’s major commodity and farm organizations. In 1972, he received the Newton County Outstanding Achievement Award, and he received the State Achievement Award in 1978.

Bill is a member of the Hillcrest Church of Christ. He serves on the Newton County Soil and Water Conservation Board and the Newton/McDonald County landfill board. Bill is a member of the the Neosho, McDonald County and Seneca Chambers of Commerce and the Neosho’s Lion’s Club. On January 2, 2019, he began his term as the new presiding commissioner for Newton County.

Bill and his wife, Kathleen, reside on the family farm near Neosho. They have three children, Bryan (who also farms on the Reiboldt Farm), Beth, and Jennifer, and eight grandchildren.