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People load up for a tour at the Northern Agricultural Research Center Thursday during NARC's Field Day. See more photos, including of the ag award winners, at www.havredailynews.com.
Members of the Baltrusch and Fitzsimmons family pose Thursday at Northern Agricultural Research Center with the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce Agribusiness Committee Outstanding Agricultural Leader Award presented to the families at NARC's Field Day.
Havre Area Chamber of Commerce Agribusiness Committee Chair Colton Christman, from left, and Havre High School FFA members Clara Haslem, Royce Reum, Linkin Cloninger and Ty Baker pose Thursday at Northern Agricultural Research Center with the Chamber Outstanding Agriculture Advocate Award the FFA members accepted for Havre High FFA advisor and ag teacher Saralyn Standley during NARC's Field Day.
Montana State University head of the Department of Research Centers and Northern Agricultural Research Center Superintendent Darrin Boss speaks Thursday during NARC's Field Day.
Havre Daily News/Patrick Johnston Montana State University Agricultural Experiment Station Director Sreekala Bajwa holds Thursday during Northern Agirucutural Reseach Center's Field Day the QR code for a survey she asked people to take to gauge what MSU should focus on in its ag research.
People wait for the next tour Thursday during the Northern Agricultural Research Center Field Day.
People eat Thursday during the banquet at Northern Agricultural Research Center's Field Day.
Montana State University's Northern Agricultural Research Center held its annual Field Day Thursday afternoon and evening with tours, speakers, food and the presentation of awards for producers and the people who support them in the area.
NARC Superintendent Darrin Boss, Ph.D., thanked the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce's Agribusiness Committee for their continued support as well as the contributions of the center's advisory council for keeping the center grounded and providing invaluable guidance.
After Boss' introduction Chamber Agribusiness Committee Chair Colter Christman presented two awards to people in local agriculture who made a considerable positive difference in the community.
The award for Outstanding Agricultural Leader went to Nathan Baltrusch and Casey Fitzsimmons of FBA Ranch.
Christman said FBA, which produces black angus beef used by local restaurant Murphy's Pub, develops, breeds and sells commercial heifers and had their first public production sale earlier this year.
The award for Outstanding Agricultural Advocate went to Havre High School teacher Saralyn Standley, who Colter said is Havre High School's new agriculture teacher, who also restarted the school's FFA program, which saw an incredibly successful first year, with more than 30 active members, and sent multiple top-placing teams to FFA's state convention in March.
At the end of the day, Montana State University Agricultural Experiment Station Director Sreekala Bajwa, Ph.D., talked about the last year for MSU and that station, as well as agriculture in Montana as a whole.
Bajwa said this year's legislative session went very well for them, with local legislators providing a lot of support, with many of those legislators attending the Field Day.
She said House bills 2 and 5 contained a lot of good funding for the station including for seed, soil and plant analysis as well as for repairs and maintenance of their existing facilities and the building of new infrastructure that will benefit their operations.
She said they've also received support to assist them in finding more staff, as too many in their organization are trying to do more work with less people and burning themselves out in the process.
She also said labs that would need to have funding approved every session have seen coverage for their activities move to their basic funding.
Bajwa said Montana's congressional delegation also gave them a lot of support on the national level, helping to secure federal money to assist precision livestock management efforts in the state as well as addressing the effect of climate change on the industry.
"I am very thankful, very grateful that you understand the value of agriculture research and the impact of agriculture in the state," she said.
As for MSU, she said, the College of Agriculture had great enrollment numbers with a massive increase in their animal science program especially.
Bajwa also said the applications for the state agriculture leader award are open and encouraged people to not be shy about nominating people they think have made a serious positive impact in the state.
She then asked the people at the event to take a few minutes to fill out a survey that would help the station determine what the biggest priority issues are in their area so that NARC can focus their efforts effectively in the coming year.
Boss thanked everyone who helped put on the day including the center's staff and the Agribusiness Committee, as well as the community members and businesses that support the event.
Thanks went out to Matt Sasaki and Lance Johnson for use of their grills and the former's assistance, Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods for the side dishes, Bear Paw Meats and the Buck family for processing the meat, Beaver Creek Jam for the tents and Torgerson's LLC of Havre for their Corporate Research Equipment Lease Program.
He said it was a great field day that served 320 people and provided exceptional tours.
Boss said it's great to see and hear from producers every year and he's glad to hear that the center is still doing good work for them and the community.
"I had a producer come up to me today and he says, 'You know, I don't know how much money this research center has made for this geographic area but it's probably insurmountable,'" he said.
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