 In June 2005, he was elected secretary of the Southern Association of State Departments of Agriculture; in 2007, he was elected president of the organization.Farmer also sought to prevent an outbreak of vesicular stomatitis virus in the state's horses and cattle by banning the import of animals from 20 western counties where the virus was known to have infected animals.On Farmer's advice, Governor Ernie Fletcher requested that the United States Department of Agriculture designate Kentucky as an agricultural disaster area after an April 2007 cold snap devastated the state's fruit and wheat crops; the designation made Kentucky farmers eligible for low-interest federal loans to help compensate for their lost crop revenue.