Ag awards presented at NARC Field Day

After holding a virtual event in 2020, Northern Agricultural Research Center held its 2021 Field Day Tuesday where staff took attendees on tours to learn about the latest cattle and crop research being conducted at the Montana State University facility, followed by a dinner and awards presentation.

NARC Superintendent and Montana State University Northern Agricultural Research Director Darrin Boss began the presentation of awards by thanking everyone for coming despite the heat, and extending his gratitude to the local ag community for supporting his organization, and him personally.

Boss said he's never more than one phone call and 10 minutes from someone in the ag community who'll help him out with a flat tire, and that is a testament to the quality of their character.

Andy Kueffler, chair of the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce AgriBusiness Committee, presented the awards the first of which was the Outstanding Agriculture Leader Award, given to Marv and Patty Cross who were celebrating their wedding anniversary that day.

Both and have been raising Angus for three decades each. Patty Cross also provides lambs for 4-H participants and Marv Cross loans heifers to students working in ag fields.

The second award, the Outstanding Ag Advocate Award, is given to people who may not be in the ag business, but have consistently supported it and understand it's importance to the state and its people.

This year the award went to the Thomas family including Clyde and his children Brandy and Duke, of Western Trailer & Marine Sales LLC.

"If it wasn't for you guys out here, the farmers and ranchers, we wouldn't be in business," Clyde Thomas said.

Two $1,000 scholarships to MSU-Northern students, chosen by ag faculty, were given to Shawn Manning and Brooke Morris, a pair of ag operations technology majors.

During the dinner Kueffler also pointed out a number of memorials dedicated to important people to the center that have been lost. Specifically he called attention to one memorializing Scott Young, a man he said has done a lot for the ag community and the research center.

During the dinner, Boss thanked the AgriBusiness Committee for another year of great food, the Sasaki family and Lance Johnson for the grills, Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods for the side dishes, Bear Paw Meats, Baltrusch Angus Ranch, Torgerson's LLC, Frontline Ag Solutions, Tilleman Equipment and Big Equipment.

He also thanked federal, state and local representatives for their work and support for the research centers.

Boss also said he wanted to thank the events largest sponsors, including CHS Big Sky; Clausen and Sons; Ezzies Wholesale; Hi-Line Rental; a sponsorship from an unnamed source in memory of retired agronomist and former NARC Superintendent Gregg Carlson, who died in May of last year; Independence Bank; Milk River Insurance; Northwest Farm Credit Service; Stockman Bank, and Triangle Communications.

Vice President of Agriculture, Dean and Director of the Montana Agriculture Experiment Station Sreekala Bajwa, who Boss introduced as a tremendous help to NARC and great person to work with, also spoke at the event.

Bajwa thanked Boss for his work and said it's been a difficult year-and-half but the ag research centers and MSU have exciting things going on, as the research arm of agriculture in the state.

She said the experiment station and facilities like it are continuing their research to keep the ag industry strong and support producers.

She thanked the Montana legislators for their work supporting them and allocating the necessary funds to build new facilities that will help them in their pursuits and keep the industry moving forward towards greater sustainability.

Bajwa specifically wanted to thank NARC's Livestock Research Associate Julia Dafoe for her incredible work this past year.

She also thanked everyone in attendance for their own continued support.

"We can't do what we do without your support," she said.

Boss also thanked the attendees and the speakers, but, most of all, he thanked NARC staff for all of their work.

"We don't pay you very much, we work the daylights out of you, two of your hardest days were this week, it's been brutal on this group," he said. "These are the people who make it happen here every day it's not me it's not anyone else."

After the dinner Boss said he thinks everything went exceedingly well given the circumstances.

"It went outstanding," he said. "Based on the plate count I think we fed almost 200 people, and with three-digit temperatures, I think that's pretty great."

Legislators attend the field day

Among the attendees was Sen. Mike Lang, R-Malta, who said he's been attending the event for years and has 40 years of experience in ag production.

Lang said he serves on the Legislature's Environmental Quality Council and he brought a number of its members on a tour of Montana's ag facilities including attending the field day.

He said one of the drivers behind this was his opposition to a bill that he believes imposes unnecessary and unreasonable standards on ag producers when it comes to soil health.

"The bill was basically getting 15 to 20 academics to tell us how to take care of our soils," he said. "I do not like that bill so I made an effort to make sure it went down."

He said a good friend of his on the council was in favor of the bill and he wanted to show him and other members of the council what agriculture in Montana is all about, and that producers already take good care of the soil which they need to create an economic return for their businesses.

"The bill, in my opinion, was written by a lot of Iowa and Illinois people. We're not Iowa and Illinois," Lang said. "That's why I wanted to start it, because these people did not know about soil health."

He said while many people in the Legislature have some kind of ag background there aren't many with direct experience in production ag and he wanted them to see the good that ag producers do which is why he took them to the event.

He said ag folks don't toot their own horns enough and he wants to give their work exposure with this tour which has stopped at the state grain lab in Great Falls, as well as Montana Milling, Cargill Seeds, and a Fort Benton hemp facility before coming to Havre.

He said he enjoyed the field day and thinks his tour has been successful.

NARC's field day is the first of eight to be held at MSU research centers around the state through July. The university said all field days will be outdoor events and will follow county and Montana University System COVID-19 precautions at the time of the events.