Red Gold honors Indiana grower
ELWOOD, Ind. — Tomato processing company Red Gold, Inc. of Elwood, Ind., recently named Kevin, Kurt and Kory Wilson as the Tomato Grower of the Year and winners of the E.A. Reichart Quality Achievement Award. The Wilson family owns and operates Red Ripe, Inc. in Galveston, Ind. Red Ripe was chosen from a group of 12 master growers, picked from more than 55 growers for Red Gold. Red Ripe also received their eighth Red Gold Master Grower award during the ceremony. The Wilsons were presented with specially-designed sweaters, watches, jackets and year plates in recognition of their achievement in growing high-quality tomatoes and exhibiting industry leadership and professionalism. The Wilson operation has been growing tomatoes for Red Gold for more than 20 years. They grow tomatoes used for whole, diced, stewed and specialty tomato products. The Wilson family received the award from Reichart’s daughter, Tina Anderson, vice president of quality assurance and product development at Red Gold.
Fitzpatrick named new facility manager
COLUMBUS, Ohio — United Producers, Inc. (UPI) named David Fitzpatrick its new facility manager at the UPI facility in Paris, Ky.
Fitzpatrick brings a strong cattle background with him to UPI, with 20 years in the cattle order buying business. Fitzpatrick of Winchester, Ky., is a graduate of Montgomery High School and attended Eastern Kentucky University. An active member of the National Cattle Breeders Association, he has received the National Cattleman’s Top Hand Award six times since 2001. UPI is a farmer-owned cooperative organization that provides livestock marketing services, risk management and agricultural financing to livestock producers.
Michigan farmer wins national dairy award
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Michigan dairy producer Tom Carson, of Hesperia, recently received the National Dairy Quality Award for consistently producing high-quality milk during the National Mastitis Council’s annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas.
Carson was selected as a platinum winner from a group of more than 120 applicants. Winners are selected based on measures of quality, systems of monitoring udder health, milking routine, protocols for detection and treatment of clinical and subclinical cases and strategies for overall herd health and welfare. Carson and his wife, Shirley, have established a track of record high milk production and high-quality milk with their 85 Holsteins. The herd average is 24,600 pounds of milk and the somatic cell count averages 64,600. Glass to lead DNR division
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Historic preservation leader James Glass will become the new Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) director of the Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology on May 14. Glass is a three-term member of the Board of Advisors for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the principal private preservation organization in the United States. He has been a member of the board of directors of the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, the largest private statewide preservation organization in the country, and he was elected the board’s vice-chair in 2002. Currently, Glass serves as the director and founder of Ball State University’s Center for Historic Preservation and director of its graduate program in the field. He earned his doctorate in architectural history and historic preservation planning from Cornell University.
Indiana Soybean Alliance names
new tech commercialization director
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA) has named Ryan West its new Director of Technology Commercialization.
West, manager of bioenergy development for the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA), will work with scientists and industry leaders to commercialize emerging technologies and develop new uses for Indiana soybeans. For the past year, West has overseen ISDA’s bioenergy strategy and has spearheaded the department’s BioTown USA project, which is an effort toward creating communities where all energy needs are met through use of biorenewable resources. Prior to that, he was ISDA’s director of legislative affairs and policy and executive director of the Indiana Commission for Agriculture & Rural Development. West has a B.A. in Political Science, with a minor in Russian, from Purdue University. He is also a past Indiana FFA state officer. West and his wife, Amelia, reside in Brownsburg, Ind.
New women’s program
coordinator has a familiar face
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Joni Wallman, who previously served as administrative assistant in the Indiana Farm Bureau (IFB) women’s division, has been promoted to the position of women’s program coordinator.
In her new role, Wallman will be the staff member directly responsible for working closely with the 10-member State Women’s Committee, as well as with committee chairperson Isabella Chism, to develop and implement educational programs for IFB. These programs include agriculture education and promotion activities for elementary and secondary schools, farm safety programs for adults and various consumer education activities. “I enjoy working with our Farm Bureau members and listening to their ideas about areas in which they could use more resources,” Wallman said. “There are lots of opportunities for women in Farm Bureau, and we hope to make more opportunities available for them.”
Wallman, who has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Indiana State University, began her IFB career in July 2005. She is originally from Cayuga, Ind., in Vermillion County.
She and her husband, Andy, reside on the south side of Indianapolis. This farm news was published in the April 11, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
