News you can use
News you can use
Quinlen Stahl, 9, left, and his brother Jaden, 8, both of Gildford Hutterite Colony, pull up a ladder on a 1955 John Deere during NARC Field Days Thursday at the Northern Ag Research Center near Havre.
Tyler Lane, right, a Chouteau County extension agent, holds out a shovel showing a chemical reaction in a soil sample Thursday at the Northern Ag Research Center near Havre.
The Havre Area Chamber of Commerce AgriBusiness Committee presented awards to Lochiel Edwards and Greg Jergeson during Northern Agricultural Research Center's annual Field Day.
AgriBusiness Committee President Doug Kallenberger presented the awards.
The presentations came after tours of research at the facility, which was created in 1915 and is part of Montana State University's Montana Agriculture Experiment Station. Some people on the tours closely watched Thursday night's storms as they rolled through the area.
Edwards was recognized during the event with the 2019 Outstanding Ag Leader Award.
"It is a great honor and thank you, the ag community," Lochiel Edwards said. "At this research station it is always a team effort. Everybody cares and pitches in at this research center. I share this with all of you."
Kallenberger said Edwards is a third-generation Montana wheat farmer, working the family farm homesteaded by his grandfather near Big Sandy in 1911. He has been and is active in multiple farm organizations including having served as president of the Montana Grain Growers Association, state university advisory boards and local groups and organizations including the local historical society and his church.
Kallenberger read some testimonials from the people nominating Edwards.
"From my standpoint as a scientist at Northern Agricultural Research Center, Lochy is pure gold," NARC Research Scientist Peggy Lamb said. "When I've had equipment break down miles from anywhere, without hesitation Lochy has put aside his own work to bring his service truck out and make my repairs. Always with a good story to tell and a smile on his face, he is very deserving of this award."
"Lochy is a great friend and neighbor. Lochy is champion watch dog for all things agriculture," neighbor Dan Works said.
The 2019 Outstanding Ag Advocate Award was presented to Greg Jergeson.
Kallenberger said Jergeson operated his family farm south of Chinook until 1995, also serving as a Montana state senator between 1975 and 2015. He is a member of the North Central Stockgrowers Association, Montana Farmer's Union and the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce Agribusiness Committee and more.
He first served in the Senate in 1975, terming out in 2001 and winning a seat back in 2012. He had to run in 2014 in a new district due to redistricting. He lost that election.
Jergeson served on the Montana Public Service Commission from 2003 to 2010 and worked with rural telephone cooperatives to expand cell phone and internet service in rural areas
He also serves Montana Transportation Commission, Montana Agricultural Development Council, in the Blaine County Conservation District, the Milk River Watershed Alliance and the Saint Mary's Working Group.
"Little did I think that I fit the criteria for the Ag Advocate Award," Jergeson said. "It is a great honor to be recognized."
"There is a lot of great leadership in the ag community, but there is also great support to the ag community from people who aren't ranchers and farmers," he added.
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