HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. — Named to the 2011 Farm Credit Services of Mid-America (FCS) Hall of Fame, Matt Neal traces all of his success back to a soil conservation speech he gave as a young member of FFA.

“It was probably the worst speech the judges ever heard, but it gave me the confidence that I could do the rest of it. It opened the doors to college and my work, where I met my wife. I can tie it all back to that first contest with FFA,” said Neal, regional vice president of FCS.

Neal, 34, came into the Mt. Juliet, Tenn., FFA chapter extremely shy and quiet. He was embarrassed by the severe stuttering he had battled his entire life; his mother had taken him to the best speech therapists in the state, but to no avail.

“The speech impediment caused me to withdraw socially in school and outside of school. It was a daily battle knowing that people, kids and adults could not understand what I was saying,” Neal wrote in his submission to FFA’s CONNECT! website (see related article in Section A this week).

His family was convinced nothing would help his stuttering. They were wrong; by the time Neal graduated high school, he had mostly overcome his speech impediment, thanks to his experience in FFA.

After that monumental soil conservation speech, he entered soil and dairy judging contests and parliamentary contests year-round. He became a chapter officer and spoke in front of his fellow FFA members, who had become close friends.

He credits his ag teachers, FFA advisors and his father, who was also involved in FFA. “They took the time to help me. It made me feel more comfortable so that I could do the competitions,” he said.

Neal did not come from a farm, but came to have a passion for agriculture that has endured. He was encouraged to go to Middle Tennessee State University by a small scholarship from the FFA chapter. He graduated in 2000 with a degree in plant and soil science and started his career with FCS the next month.

“I never changed my major. It might’ve gone back to that first soil conservation speech,” he said. “Now I’m in a job where I have the ability to really help farmers, to be an advocate for them the way my teachers were an advocate for me in high school.”

Neal met his wife, Alicia, at FCS. They have two small children and one on the way – all future FFA kids, he hopes.

“I take my little girl to the awards banquet at the old chapter with the blue jackets. She can do whatever she wants, but I want to show her how important it is,” he said.

Within 11 years, Neal has moved four times with FCS and collected many awards, including the Hall of Fame award for top sales performance over the course of his career. When it came time to direct the $1,000 Farm Credit award to any organization of his choice, it was easy: He directed the grant to his old FFA chapter, where Mr. Willoughby, Mr. Fletcher, Dr. Rickets and his dad served as leaders.

Neal speaks now, stuttering very little, in front of Farm Credit circles. “It’s something I would have been horrified to do (years ago). I work on it every day,” he said.