GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — In retirement, Monroe County Farm Bureau member Paul Marks is almost as busy educating people about agriculture as he was during his career, which spanned more than five decades and included work with 4-H, FFA, Michigan State University extension and Michigan Farm Bureau (MFB).

Marks was one of three “friends of agriculture” honored for their work during the annual Promotion and Education Committee luncheon on Dec. 1 at MFB’s 92nd Annual Meeting in Grand Rapids.

MFB presented Marks with its 2011 Agricultural Promoter of the Year Award. Webberville Community Schools’ teacher Colleen Scott-Krieser earned the organization’s Agricultural Educator of the Year Award, and Sturgis Journal reporter Terry Katz was named the MFB Agricultural Communicator of the Year.

Marks was recognized for a lifetime spent bridging the gap between farmers and consumers. “Paul is a voice for all farmers – grain, livestock, vegetables, retailers,” said Donald Sahloff, president of the Monroe County Farm Bureau.

“He has great knowledge of the industry, based on experience, and tirelessly looks for opportunities to share his knowledge and expertise with the general public and the agriculture community alike. Paul is very approachable and encourages communication between the people who grow the food and those who consume it.”

Marks has deep roots in Monroe County agriculture, beginning as an FFA advisor in the 1950s and ’60s. By the mid-1970s his career with MSU extension was already well-seasoned, and he had begun the Country Charmers 4-H group. Throughout the ’80s and ’90s his involvement stayed intense and consistent, not even flagging after his retirement from extension in 2001.

“For me, Farm Bureau has been a natural extension of my professional career as an educator and as an extension person,” Marks said. “I’m just doing what all of you do. We promote an industry that we are proud of, that we are happy to be involved in. It is one of the most noble industries in the world. I get a lot of enjoyment out of helping people learn things they didn’t know before.”

The award includes a $500 grant for future promotion efforts. Marks was nominated by the Monroe County Farm Bureau and chosen by the MFB state Promotion and Education Committee from 14 nominations submitted from across the state. Scott-Krieser was recognized for excelling in incorporating agricultural education into her classes. She is credited with almost singlehandedly saving Webberville’s FFA program from elimination and increasing enrollment five-fold in the farm-heavy high school curriculum.

Beyond this, she has woven agriculture into almost every corner of the school, demonstrating the need for agricultural careers in the real world.

“Colleen Scott-Keiser has done more than just taken over the agriscience/FFA program; she has completely rejuvenated it and brought it into the mainstream,” said Principal Tim Dowker. “Agriscience can be seen – erroneously – as a niche program for farm kids, but Colleen has made it accessible to all students.”

Scott-Kreiser will receive a $500 grant from the MFB Member Services Department to benefit the Webberville FFA program.

“I couldn’t be more honored to be recognized by America’s farmers and advocates for agriculture’s future,” she said. “Today, as much as it is about me, it really is about the kids. It’s about their future and their potential.

“Agriculture’s footprint is tremendous and far-reaching. We believe in the future of agriculture. Thank you for believing in us.”

Nominated by the St. Joseph County Farm Bureau, Katz was selected for her outstanding work connecting local readers with St. Joseph County’s prosperous agriculture industry.

“Terry really sees the value the agriculture industry gives to the economy and our local way of life,” said St. Joseph County Farm Bureau President Eric Stephenson.

“She always seems to be looking for ways to bring that information to her readers, and her stories are greatly appreciated by the farm community.”

A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., Katz grew up in an agricultural environment. During her youth, her family moved to a 26-acre farm and raised gladiolus and other cut flowers.

She was active in several area 4-H clubs and later took part in judging livestock.

“There is always something happening on a farm. It is so exciting. I can see a story to be told in every person sitting in this room,” Katz said to those in attendance at the luncheon. “If I had my way, I would be out there interviewing everybody on a farm story.

“I’ve found the most interesting stories on farms. The ones people remember are the human interest stories. If you mix the human interest with an animal, you have something going.”

During the course of her career, Katz has accumulated some 60 state and national awards for news writing, including being named Pennsylvania’s Newspaper Woman of the Year in 1975 for winning 13 writing awards in one contest.

She took a break from writing in the 1990s to see the world from behind the wheel of a semi, hauling produce from the West Coast to East Coast with her husband, Bryan. The experience brought Katz face-to-face with agriculture, particularly the farmers and seasonal workers who grow and harvest the nation’s fresh fruit and vegetables.

In 2001 the couple settled on a 10-acre farm in Sherwood, Mich., and Katz hired in at the Sturgis Journal. Here she’s been able to reconnect with both the agriculture she grew up with, raising a large flock of fowl and rabbits, and the agriculture she got to know trucking produce across the country.

“As a reporter, it is my duty to find stories that will intrigue readers and keep them interested in what is growing in their community, from the grass roots up,” she said.