Announcing our 46th class of Hall of Fame InducteesFour Ohioans who committed their lives to working in, promoting and advocating for Ohio’s farm community were honored Friday, August 5, 2011, by the Ohio Agricultural Council, when they were inducted to the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame. The Ohio Agricultural Council inducted the late Edwin J. Carey of Marion, Lester Lynd of Pataskala, Dr. Thomas B. Turner of Somerset and Fred Yoder of Plain City, into the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame during a special breakfast ceremony held during the Ohio State Fair, Friday, August 5, in the Rhodes Youth Center at the Ohio Expo Center. The 46th annual event attracted over 500 guests to honor these four professionals for their lifetime of service and dedication to Ohio’s agriculture community. “Our Board is extraordinarily pleased to be honoring such a diverse group of inductees into this year’s class,” said Tom Schlenker, president of the Ohio Agricultural Council. “Each inductee stands out individually for his exceptional contributions to Ohio’s agriculture industry, but together they represent the passion, creativity and hard work evidenced by their collective decades of unmatched experience in farming and agriculture. This group of inductees clearly has earned their place in the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame.” Edwin J. Carey of Marion, now deceased, began his life’s work at the tender age of seven taking care of the family’s poultry flock. Over the years, Carey Farms grew to include a 250,000 egg capacity hatchery and 1,400 crop acres. Carey devoted more than 65 years to improving the genetic capabilities of laying hens and was considered by many as one of the leading poultry breeders and innovators in poultry housing and development. In 1936, he had the highest production pen and individual hen in the United States. In the early 1950’s he started offering a franchise program of his breeding stock to other poultry producers. This resulted in the sale of thousands of Carey-Nickability bred white leghorn chicks nationally and world-wide. At the time of his death, he had just developed a strain of white Leghorn chicks that could be sexed by color as opposed to the time consuming wing length method. His pioneering efforts contributed greatly to the overall development of the high producing, feed efficient layers in production today. Carey passed away in 1988. From following his elders around on the farm to earning his gas money by pulling sprouts off apple trees, Lester Lynd of Pataskala, knew that not only was he at work, but also at home in the orchards. Lester has been an integral part of the Lynd Fruit Farm evolution – from working at the roadside stand that provided ‘all you can drink’ cider for 10 cents to becoming the largest apple wholesaler and pick your own apple operation in Ohio – he has worked alongside generations at Lynd Fruit Farm. He brought the controlled atmosphere storage process to the farm which lengthens the lifespan of the apple by decreasing the oxygen in the storage area. Lynd Fruit Farm was the first to bring this technology to central Ohio. Today the farm produces nearly 12 million apples yearly, and also grows pumpkins, cherries, plums, peaches and daylilies. He was also instrumental in the success of the Agricultural Clearance Program through the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks. The impact Dr. Thomas B Turner of Somerset has had on the Ohio beef industry, students in animal sciences at Ohio State and youth is far reaching. During his tenure at Ohio State, he coached 32 Intercollegiate Livestock Judging Teams that included 266 students and is the longest serving coach in the 105 year history of the program at Ohio State and the second longest in the U.S. Dr. Turner was instrumental in developing an endowment program to secure the longevity of livestock judging program at Ohio State and raised more than 1.5 million dollars – by far the most successful judging team endowment in the nation. Dr. Turner touched the lives of more than 3,000 students in the classroom through teaching and student advising. He’s also had the opportunity to judge livestock across the country and around the world including at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney, Australia – the largest livestock exposition in the southern hemisphere. Fred Yoder of Plain City has distinguished himself as a state and national leader in the corn industry. He has farmed for 38 years and grows corn, soybeans and wheat, where they have switched to strictly conservation tillage. He also operates a retail farm seed business, selling a variety of seeds. Yoder has served as a great example to others and is a pioneer of innovation on his own family farm. The farm has become multi-generational with the family starting Yoder Ag Services LLC. Yoder was a member of the Ohio Corn Growers Association Board for 18 years, two of those years as the president. He rose to serve as president of the National Corn Growers Association and continues as an advisor to them in their efforts to develop solutions to current agricultural issues. Yoder has testified on behalf of farmers before congress and serves as an advocate for agriculture locally, nationally and internationally while working to advance grain farming and opening world markets. |
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ScholarshipsThe OAC is offering scholarships to assist students in pursuing their education in agricultural-related areas of study. Click here for more information and to download an application. DEADLINE is February 15, 2012.
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