Jerry Newby, president of the
Alabama Farmers Federation,
long-time Extension specialist
Dallas Hartzog and Lowndes County
cattle farmer Harold Pate will be
inducted into the Agricultural Hall
of Honor during the Auburn University
Agricultural Alumni Association’s
annual banquet and awards
program Feb. 22 in Auburn.Also during the ceremonies,
the alumni group will present
Pioneer Awards posthumously to
B. W. Appleton of Gainesville, Ga.,
and John Cottier of Auburn. The
Pioneer Awards are presented to
individuals who had a significant
impact on Alabama agriculture during
their lifetimes.The Ag Alumni Association
established the Hall of Honor in
1984 to honor and recognize living
Alabamians for the leadership they
have shown and the role they have
played in strengthening the state’s
agricultural industry. Each year,
three new members are voted into
the Hall of Honor — one from production
agriculture, one from the
agribusiness sector of the industry
and one in the area of education/
government.Newby, a Limestone County
row crop and cattle farmer who
holds a business administration
degree from Athens State University,
is the honoree in the agribusiness
category. He was recently
elected to his seventh straight
two-year term as president of the
Alabama Farmers Federation,
Alabama’s largest farm organization
and a member of the American
Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).
Prior to his election as president,
he served as a vice president of the
Federation and as a member of its
board of directors.Also a member of the AFBF
board of directors and its Foundation
for Agriculture, Newby
served on the Alabama Board of
Agriculture and Industries and is
a past board member of Cotton
Incorporated. He also has served as
a delegate to the National Cotton
Council for Alabama and as a member
of the NCC Producer Steering
Committee. He is a past secretary
of Southern Cotton Growers.Newby, who is part of a diversified
family farm operation in north
Alabama and south Tennessee
along with his father, brother and
seven other family members, was
president of the Limestone County
Farmers Federation for 14 years.He began his involvement in the
organization as a member of the
Young Farmers Program, serving
as Limestone County’s chairman,
and then as chairman of the State
Young Farmers Committee. He
also served on the American Farm
Bureau’s Young Farmer & Rancher
Committee.Hartzog, who retired in 2007 as
an agronomist with the Alabama
Cooperative Extension System at
the Wiregrass Regional Research
and Extension Center in Headland,
is known throughout the South
for his contributions to the peanut
industry, including soil fertility
and cultural practice research. He
is being inducted in the education/
government category.His research focused on row
spacing, tillage, sub-surfaced drip
irrigation, center-pivot irrigation,
calcium requirements of the new peanut cultivars, yield sustainability
in a reduced tillage environment
and integrating cattle in a sod-based
rotation with peanuts and cotton.Hartzog, who holds masters and
bachelor’s degrees from Auburn
University, worked to develop sustainable
peanut, cotton and livestock
cropping systems. He earned
the Distinguished Career Award
from the Extension System and,
in 2001, was named Man of the
Year in Agriculture by Progressive
Farmer magazine.Pate, who is being inducted in
the production category, has been
one of the state’s top Charolais
cattle producers for more than 50
years.A staunch advocate of performance
records, Pate measured
and analyzed all performance data
available to select the best genetics
to produce top quality seedstock.
He relies heavily on performance
data collected from sire summaries,
Alabama Beef Cattle Improvement
Association (ALBCIA) central bull
evaluations and steer feed-out evaluations.
He also uses the performance
data from his Lowndesboro
cattle farm, Pate Charolais.
In 2006, the ALBCIA presented
Pate with the Richard Deese Award
for his role in upholding the principles
of performance testing and
genetic improvement in beef cattle.A former president of the
Alabama Cattlemen’s Association
(ACA) and the ALBCIA, Pate was
inducted into the Alabama Livestock
Hall of Fame in 1987. As
a charter member of ALBCIA in
1964, he helped pave the way for
today’s cattlemen. He was Alabama
Cattleman of the Year in 1977,
ALBCIA Seedstock Producer of the
Year in 1986 and the 1997 American
International Charolais Association’s
Producer of the Year.Pate has also assisted with
youth livestock programs, hosted
field days and volunteered to assist
with judging teams. Pate also
served as a leader in several state
and national breed associations and
helped to establish the Alabama
Junior Cattlemen’s Association.The Hall of Honor’s first class
consisted of three members, with
not more than three new members
to be added each year. In later
years, the selection process evolved
to identify individuals from three
primary sectors of the industry —
agribusiness, production and education/
government.In May 1995, the Agricultural
Pioneer Award was established to
posthumously recognize individuals
whose lives and work impacted
the industry.Each year, in conjunction with
the association’s annual meeting,
a banquet is held to honor that
year’s recipients and their families.
Biographical plaques of the Hall of
Honor recipients are placed on the
first-floor walls of Comer Hall. A
plaque for the Pioneer Award is also
located in this area with a brass
plate listing each year’s
recipients.
For more information about this year’s
awards, contact Elaine Rollo at (334)
844-3204 or email rollome@auburn.edu.