Raybon Anderson, founder of Bulloch Fertilizer Company, Anderson’s General Store and president of Raybon Anderson Farms, Inc., will be inducted into the Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame on April 29 during the 67th University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Alumni Association Awards in Athens.
For Anderson, the honor is the professional culmination of a lifetime devoted to agriculture.
“Being raised on a farm gets in your blood,” Anderson told the Statesboro Herald in an interview in 2018. “You just can’t get it out of your blood.”
Anderson was raised on a farm in Nevils and graduated from Southeast Bulloch High School in 1956.
“I’ve always had to work; I worked on the farm as a kid,” Anderson said.
After high school, a job came open in Bulloch County with the United States Department of Agriculture and Anderson said he thought, “That’s my niche, right there.”
Anderson met many people all over the state, as well as working with farmers all across the county and surrounding areas. And his passion for agriculture revealed another niche he believed needed to be filled.
“I saw a need for one organization that could help the farmer with all of his agricultural needs, fertilizer, ag chemicals – any services and products that a farmer needed, all in one location,” Anderson said. “Horse supplies – serving the farmer covers a lot of things.”
In 1963, he founded Bulloch Fertilizer Inc. to provide local producers with all their agricultural needs, from fertilizer and agricultural chemicals to services and livestock products, in one location.
“I never looked back,” Anderson said of his decision to open the business. “I’ve enjoyed every day. Some of our clients have been with us since the very first month we were in business.”
In 1993, Anderson built Bulloch Fertilizer’s new office on its current site. And in 2007, he opened Anderson’s General Store, first as a smaller operation near the office on West Main, and then as a larger store on Highway 80 East.
“The good Lord has blessed me in this business,” he said. “Blessed us. I use ‘we’ and ‘us’ because nobody can do anything by themselves. It’s ‘we’ because we have excellent employees. The key is to work hard and hire the best people and be good to them.”
Many clients and employees have not changed, and neither has the passion to provide for the farmer over the years. However, the face of the business changed slightly when Anderson’s son Mike added products and services to support the turf line of business.
Anderson’s longtime pastor, Elder Randy Waters, of Statesboro Primitive Baptist Church, spoke of Anderson’s character.
“When I think of Raybon Anderson, I think of a man who’s always put God in the center of everything he’s always done. Family, friends, business. He is a Christian 24/7. He is genuine, a man of integrity, and a leader with a servant’s heart.
“Raybon is a problem-solver. Some might just run away from something controversial, but he does it compassionately, not bitterly. He makes all of us want to do better.”
From the beginning Anderson said he has followed the simple advice his grandfather gave him when he started the business: “Be honest. Be sincere. Always serve your customer with a smile. Always do what you tell them you’re going to do.”
The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Alumni Association Awards will be held at noon on April 29 in the UGA Tate Student Center Grand Hall. Individual tickets and table sponsorships are available on the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences website.