Rotary Club of Abbeville honors Allen McLain Jr. as Vermilion Parish Farmer of the Year

There is a saying about who to thank for the meal you ate today.
Each year, the Rotary Club of Abbeville dedicates a day to offer a special thanks to those who work to make sure food is plentiful, by presenting its Farmer of the Year Award.
Allen McLain Jr. is this year’s recipient. The Rotary Club honored McLain during its weekly meeting on Wednesday.
“It’s a huge honor,” McLain said after the meeting.
That is especially true, as the Rotary Club is not an ag-centric organization, he added.
“It’s an organization that doesn’t have direct ties to agriculture,” McLain said. “To know that they have a day set up to honor agriculture, it makes you understand how much agriculture really means to our parish.”
McLain farms more than 1,000 acres of rice and around 400 acres of crawfish in Vermilion Parish. McLain operates a crawfish boiling catering business, and recently acquired land at Live Oak Plantation for rice and crawfish production. That location will also be the site of an agrotourism venture McLain plans to launch.
“It’s a large part of what drives a community,” McLain said of every farmer’s operation. “It may not affect everyone directly, but it does indirectly.”
McLain has worked directly with numerous people in agriculture through various boards and organizations. McLain graduated from both the LSU AgCenter and USA Rice Leadership programs. He serves as the president of the Vermilion Rice Growers Association. He is an officer for the Louisiana Rice Growers Association. For Vermilion Farm Bureau, McLain is the Second Vice President, while also holding a seat on the board of directors for Louisiana Farm Bureau. McLain is also a participant on the Farm Bureau Crawfish Advisory Committee.
“We are happy to recognize the work and contributions to Vermilion Parish agriculture that Allen and his family are making,” Rotary Club member Mark Shirley said before presenting McLain with his award.
McLain comes from a farming family, including his parents, Allen Sr. and Laura, and brothers, John and Ryan.
“Allen and his wife, Erin, have two boys, Allen III and Luke,,” Shirley said while introducing McLain’s family during the presentation, “who may be the next generation of McLain farmers in Vermilion Parish. And ever present in their hearts and ours is their beautiful daughter, Kaylee.”
In the spirit of thanks, McLain made sure to offer some to his family, as well as everyone who is part of his operation.
“It was an honor to be recognized,” McLain said, “but it’s not just me. It’s all the people around me that need the credit. Without everyone who’s on your team, you can’t get done what you need to get done.”