Leaders in agriculture wanted

Best Farmers Wanted

The Montana State University College of Agriculture is seeking nominations for outstanding agricultural leaders to honor during its 2016 Celebrate Agriculture event, set for Nov. 10-12.

The annual awards honor those who have exhibited abundant leadership in Montana public service as an agricultural producer, industry advocate, agri-business leader or as a friend of agriculture. The award is part of the college’s annual Celebrate Agriculture event, and awardees will be honored during the college’s Harvest Breakfast on Saturday, Nov. 12.

The event and awards recognize the important voice Montana’s agricultural producers have in their land-grant university, according to MSU Vice President of Agriculture Charles Boyer.

“Our outstanding agricultural leaders represent the breadth and depth of the many ways our agricultural community supports MSU,” Boyer said. “They serve as strong examples for our students and stakeholders of how leadership and participation can further the land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach.”

Who are they

Successful award applicants will be: well respected in their agricultural community; actively involved in the agriculture industry with accomplishments that impact many; an industry leader or an upcoming, active and innovative producer; or have a lifetime of achievement in agriculture. Current MSU, state or federal employees will not be considered except in the friend of agriculture category. Past MSU, state or federal employees need to have been retired for a minimum of two years and shown service above and beyond their job requirements to be considered. Nominees who are not selected this year will be reconsidered the following year, but applications should be updated with current information.

In 2015, Lola Raska of the Montana Grain Growers Association and Max and Kirsti Cederberg of Hot Rod Ranch Inc. received the award.

The deadline for nominations is Friday, Aug. 26, and forms should be received at 202 Linfield Hall, MSU, Bozeman, MT, 59717, by that date. Nomination forms may be downloaded at: http://agriculture.montana.edu/celebrateag/.  

Celebrate Agriculture is an opportunity to celebrate the heritage of Montana agriculture and the impact the land-grant tradition has on communities across the state of Montana, the nation and the world. The event includes a dinner hosting the college’s student scholarship award winners, a public breakfast and current agricultural-related research highlights. All events are free and open to the public. The MSU Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics will also host an outlook conference on Friday, Nov. 11, called “Agricultural Production: Trends and Changing Food Systems.” Oklahoma State University Regents Professor Jayson Lusk will give a keynote talk, “The Future of Food,” during the conference lunch hour.

A full conference schedule can be found at http://www.ampc.montana.edu/fallconference/index.html.