Troy Johnson, South Dakota State,was appointed chairmen of the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) at the ARA Conference and Expo this fall. He succeeds John Oster of Morral Companies in the positionand will serve a one-year term. Johnson is vice president of Midwest Operations for Wilbur-Ellis Company. He was initiated into Alpha Phi Chapter at SDSU in 1986 and graduated in 1989. ARA advocates, influences, educates and provides services to support sellers of seed, nutrients, crop protection products, farm equipment, precision technology and agronomic services. Read more.
Below are photos of other AGR Brothers in attendance at the ARA Conference and Expo in Boca Raton, Florida, November 27-29, 2018.
The Alpha Upsilon Chapterat the University of Tennessee-Martin welcomed Jai Templeton as an Alpha Gamma Rho member during an induction ceremony on December 5. His induction recognized Templeton’s longtime leadership and involvement in the agriculture community at the local, state and national levels. Templeton served under Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam as the state’s 37th commissioner of agriculture from May 2016 until January when Dr. Charles Hatcher was installed under new Gov. Bill Lee. Read more.
Ernest Conant, Cal Poly,was named director of the Mid-Pacific Region for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation. Conant has nearly 40 years of water law experience and previously served as senior partner of Young Wooldridge, LLP. As director of Reclamation's Mid-Pacific Region, he will manage one of the nation's largest and most complex water projects, the Central Valley Project, as well as Oregon's Klamath Project; Nevada's Newlands, Humboldt, Washoe and Truckee Storage projects; and California's Cachuma, Orland, Santa Maria, Solano and Ventura River projects. Conant was initiated into Chi Chapter at Cal Poly in 1975. He earned his law degree from Pepperdine University in 1979. Read more.
Joe DiPietro, UT-Martin,announced his retirement as president of the University of Tennessee system, stepping down from active service on November 21. DiPietro, UT’s 25th president, led the University of Tennessee system since January 2011. He serves as the chief executive officer of UT and its campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga and Martin, the Health Science Center in Memphis, and the statewide Institute of Agriculture and the Institute of Public Service. Before serving as president, DiPietro led the Institute of Agriculture for five years from 2006 until he became president in 2011. He previously served as dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Florida and was a tenured professor and associate dean for research at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, where he conducted research on the biology and control of parasites in horses and other domestic animals. He initiated in Alpha Upsilon as an alumnus. Read his farewell letter.
Charles Boyer, Fresno State, recently retired as vice president of agriculture for Montana State University. Boyer, the university’s first vice president of agriculture, joined MSU from Fresno State University, Fresno, in 2014. During his time at MSU, he oversaw the College of Agriculture’s five academic departments and seven statewide agricultural research centers as dean and served as the director of the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station. MAES conducts research at seven research centers located across the state to address the diverse climatological challenges of Montana’s agriculture industry. He initiated into Alpha Sigma chapter as an alumnus. Read more.
Garrett Driver, Fresno State, earned top honors in the California Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers and Ranchers Discussion Meet, at the 100th CFBF Annual Meeting in San Diego in December. He is a sixth-generation farmer and supply chain manager for Nuseed. Driver was initiated into Alpha Sigma Chapter in 2006 and graduated in 2009. At the meet, he addressed the future of California agriculture and how the agriculture business can attract the best and brightest minds from science, technology, engineering and mathematics into agricultural careers. He went on to represent California at the American Farm Bureau Federation Open Discussion Meet at the AFBF Annual Convention in January. Read more.
Riley Sleichter, Kansas State, has been selected as one of six for Land O’ Lakes Global Food Challenge Emerging Leaders for Food Security Program. The six leaders, all college sophomores from six partner universities, were selected from a competitive field of candidates. The program is part of the cooperative’s effort to invest in the leaders of tomorrow to identify innovative and practical ways to solve issues facing the agriculture and food industries. Sleichter is from a sixth-generation farm near Abilene, Kansas. He is studying Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Kansas State University and initiated into Alpha Zeta Chapter in 2017. As the global population continues to rise, Sleichter views agriculture technologies as the way to feed, fuel and clothe the world. He is excited to work with the other Emerging Leaders to begin developing a brighter future for the generations to follow. Meet the emerging leaders for 2019.
Will Krause, 2018 Noble Ruler of Beta Iota Chapter at Truman State University, was able to present his research at the IEEE Annual Ubiquitous Computing, Electronics and Mobile Communication Conference in November. Krause has spent the past year designing and developing a device that collects data on soil moisture, pH, light intensity temperature and humidity.
Dr. Jim Riemann, Kansas State, was recognized as Kansas State University Department of Animal Sciences and Industry Distinguished Alumnus for 2018 on December 3. Riemann is an industry-leading authority in steam pasteurization of beef carcasses. He earned three degrees from K-State -- a bachelor's degree in agricultural education in 1966, a master's degree in animal science in 1973 and a doctorate in food science in 1974. He initiated into Alpha Zeta Chapter as an alumnus in 1962. Read more.
Dr. Charley Cull, Kansas State, is one of two recipients of the K-State Alumni Association Student Alumni Board's 2019 Distinguished Young Alumni Award. The award recognizes two K-State graduates who are younger than 35 and are using the scholarship, leadership and service experience they acquired at K-State to excel in their professions and contribute to their communities. Cull will be recognized in February. A native of Oakland, Nebraska, he is a veterinarian and clinical research associate and director of stocker and grazing cattle operations for Midwest Veterinary Services Inc. and Central States Research Centre Inc. of Oakland, Nebraska, and the satellite facility, Veterinary Biomedical Research Center Inc. of Manhattan, Kansas. He graduated from K-State in 2012 with a bachelor's in veterinary science, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 2014, and a doctorate in Pathobiology in 2016. Cull was the first student to complete concurrent DVM and Ph.D. degrees through the dual-degree scholarship program in the College of Veterinary Medicine. He initiated into Alpha Zeta Chapter in 2007. Read more.
Ben Brown, Kansas State, is director of Ohio State University’s Farm Management Program. He provides outreach and programming to Ohio producers and ranchers to help them run successful farming operations. Brown helps teach farmers how to use the Agricultural Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs, both of which provide federal payments to farmers, assisting with farm-level cash flow. He initiated into Alpha Zeta at KSU in 2011 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics in 2015. He holds a master’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri. Brown has been with Ohio State University since September 2017 and was recently featured by the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Read more.
The Alpha Gamma Rho colony at SUNY Cobleskill performed volunteer service at the Iroquois Indian Museum, located in Howes Cave, this fall. More than 20 AGR brothers completed at least 10 hours of service at the Museum. Their responsibilities evolved from grounds upkeep and building maintenance to exhibit preparation, hanging and displaying artwork and artifact relocation. Chapter members earned valuable curatorial, visual-display and public outreach skills as a result of their service in this project. Read more about the project.
Brandon Hanson, Ben Hinners, Peyton Boyle, Scott Stoll, Michael Peters and Braden Else of Eta Chapter at Iowa State University shared with the kindergartners at King Elementary School about agriculture in Iowa on January 16. The students had a chance to hear about wind energy, turbines, cows, dairy, rivers, pigs, and more while learning where many of these things are located in Iowa! This is part of the ISU 4U Promise, a college partnership program designed to help nurture a college-going culture at King Elementary and Moulton Extended Learning Center in Des Moines. Each grade is paired with one of the undergraduate colleges at Iowa State University. Students, staff, or faculty from the different colleges are then invited to share their areas of study in interactive and engaging lessons with the students in the classrooms.
Congratulations to Charles Krause and his family. The Krause family was one of three winners of Corteva’s Power to Do More contest for 2018. As a contest winner, Corteva donated $10,000 to the Buffalo, Minnesota FFA community garden. Charles and his family, including wife Robyn, and children Andrew and Morgan, are fifth- and sixth-generation dairy farmers in central Minnesota. Charles (1988) and Andrew (2013) are both alumni members of Lambda Chapter at the University of Minnesota. Watch the video about their farm.
AJ Jacques, Pi Chapter, and his wife Susan, will be inducted into the OSU Hall of Fame by the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association at a ceremony on February 8. Induction into the OSU Hall of Fame is the highest honor bestowed by Oklahoma State University. It recognizes alumni and former students with outstanding lifetime achievements in society and professional life. AJ and Susan Jacques both graduated from OSU in 1975 – Susan with a degree in recreation and AJ in agricultural economics. While at OSU, AJ was a member of Alpha Gamma Rho, initiating into the chapter in 1972. AJ would go on to have a successful career as an oil and gas producer and contractor for more than 35 years, including serving as the president of Atlas Drilling, LLC in Woodward, Oklahoma. In addition to starting Atlas Drilling, LLC, AJ also started Cheyenne Drilling Company and built it into a multi-state drilling operation with 17 rigs. The Jacques currently reside in Stillwater. Read more.
The artwork of Rob Wacker was featured in the January 22nd edition of the Frazee Forum in North Dakota where he is from. Rob creates robots, spaceships and tractors using donated scrap metal. Some of his pieces can take up to a year to make. He also shows his work at local galleries in Pensacola, Florida, where he now lives. He was initiated into Epsilon Chapter at North Dakota State University in 1993.
Brothers of the Alpha Pi Chapter of Alpha Gamma Rho at the University of Arizona had the pleasure of representing the fraternity at Arizona FFA’s “Blue & Gold Gala” on January 27 at the Sheraton at Wild Horse Pass. AGR members’ participation was made possible by the Dykstra family and Dykstra Machinery.
