Oregon agriculture leaders to be honored

Oregon’s agriculture leaders and innovators will be honored at the Agricultural Progress Awards dinner March 12.

The event, hosted by the Oregon Department of Agriculture, celebrates progress in agriculture made through partnerships among business, higher education and state government.

ODA Director Katy Coba will present the following awards:

Oregon Product Retailer of the Year:  Wilco, headquartered in Mt. Angel and the largest farm supply cooperative in the Pacific Northwest, for its service and support of Oregon agriculture.

Excellence in Marketing:  The Oregon Potato Commission, for its innovation and promotion of potatoes in local, domestic, and international markets.

Cooperator of the Year:  The Clackamas and Wasco counties Soil and Water Conservation Districts, for commitment to conservation and working with the Oregon Department of Agriculture to support its Agricultural Water Quality Program.

Excellence in Education:  The Summer Ag Institute, for its education of Oregon K-12 teachers about agriculture and its application in the classroom.

Individual Contributions to Agriculture: John McCulley of Salem, for his many years of leadership, promotion, and marketing efforts as administrator of several Oregon agricultural commodity commissions, associations, and organizations; Jim Krahn of Vernonia for his years of service to Oregon’s dairy industry as executive director of the Oregon Dairy Farmers Association; and Carol Mallory-Smith of Albany, for her work and research as a weed scientist with Oregon State University’s Crop and Soil Science Department.

The Agricultural Progress Awards Dinner will begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Spinning Room of the Willamette Heritage Center at the Mill, 1313 Mill Street SE in Salem, preceded by a no-host social hour and reception at 5:30 p.m.

For more information or to register for the event, please contact the Oregon Department of Agriculture at (503) 986-4550 or visit http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/Pages/ap2014.aspx

Click here for the original article from the Statesman Journal.