Robby Barkley is a third generation farmer in the Yuma area. His family began farming in the 1910s. Barkley Ag Enterprises, LLP was established in 1963 and today grows lettuce, broccoli, melons, cotton and wheat. In the last 20 years, Barkley has expanded his agricultural interests to include seed, wheat feed and grain merchandizing, cotton trading, and freight services to the agricultural industry. He is partner and chief executive officer of Green Gate Fresh with headquarters in Salinas. Green Gate is a processor of leafy greens and salad mixes. He also owns and operates a real estate development company in Yuma.
He attended Northern Arizona University before joining the operation and became president of Barkley Ag Enterprises in 1980. He is the past president of the Arizona Cotton Growers Association, the past president and a current member of the board of the Arizona Supima Association, and one of the founders and past chairman of the Arizona Wheat Growers Association. He was a member of the Arizona Department of Agriculture Advisory Council and also a past chairman of that organization.
Robby is the recipient of an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Arizona’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and has served on numerous boards and committees at the university over the years, including a term as president of the AG 100 Council. He is involved with several charitable and nonprofit organizations in the Yuma area, including Arizona Western College.
Robby was elected to the board in 1990, and served as chairman in 2010.