Wolff, Steele Receive Barn Raiser Awards from PFB
Submitted by Editor on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 4:52pm.
Marilyn Hershey
Correspondent
HERSHEY, Pa. — Pennsylvania Farm Bureau’s highest award, the Barn Raiser Award, was presented this week to the former Pennsylvania Ag Secretary Dennis Wolff and former Penn State Dean of Ag Sciences Robert Steele. The presentations were made during PFB’s 59th Annual Meeting Tuesday here at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center.
Both Wolff and Steele received the honor for their “strong voice, dedication, and outstanding leadership to the agricultural community,” said PFB President, Carl Shaffer.
As state ag secretary, Wolff’s “number one priority was to address the concerns of Pennsylvania’s agriculture, benefiting farmers of all commodities.” Wolff served as secretary for more than six years, before leaving his post this past August. Among his accomplishments were the creation of programs such as the Center for Dairy Excellence and his role in developing ACRE (Agriculture, Communities and Rural Environment) legislation to protect farmers and rural communities.
Wolff has been a lifelong member of PFB. As secretary of agriculture he grew to “appreciate PFB’s ag education programs, community outreach, and their mission to move ag forward,” he said.
Steele served as dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences for a dozen years, and “maintained and strengthened PSU’s commitment to serve the state’s agricultural industry and citizens with cutting-edge research and cooperative extension programs,” according to PFB.
Steele is currently serving on the college faculty as a tenured professor in the Department of Food Science.
Growing up a “country boy in the hollows of south central Pennsylvania,” Steele said he can’t recall a “single barn that was ever raised by a single person.” Working together for “a common agricultural message in the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania” has been Steele’s lifebeat for several years. Youth programs, county extension, and continuing education are programs that “partner with PFB” and “work toward a unified goal.”
Wolff and Steele are the 11th and 12th recipients of the Barn Raiser Award. The first award was given out in 1983.
Marilyn Hershey
Correspondent
HERSHEY, Pa. — Pennsylvania Farm Bureau’s highest award, the Barn Raiser Award, was presented this week to the former Pennsylvania Ag Secretary Dennis Wolff and former Penn State Dean of Ag Sciences Robert Steele. The presentations were made during PFB’s 59th Annual Meeting Tuesday here at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center.
Both Wolff and Steele received the honor for their “strong voice, dedication, and outstanding leadership to the agricultural community,” said PFB President, Carl Shaffer.
As state ag secretary, Wolff’s “number one priority was to address the concerns of Pennsylvania’s agriculture, benefiting farmers of all commodities.” Wolff served as secretary for more than six years, before leaving his post this past August. Among his accomplishments were the creation of programs such as the Center for Dairy Excellence and his role in developing ACRE (Agriculture, Communities and Rural Environment) legislation to protect farmers and rural communities.
Wolff has been a lifelong member of PFB. As secretary of agriculture he grew to “appreciate PFB’s ag education programs, community outreach, and their mission to move ag forward,” he said.
Steele served as dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences for a dozen years, and “maintained and strengthened PSU’s commitment to serve the state’s agricultural industry and citizens with cutting-edge research and cooperative extension programs,” according to PFB.
Steele is currently serving on the college faculty as a tenured professor in the Department of Food Science.
Growing up a “country boy in the hollows of south central Pennsylvania,” Steele said he can’t recall a “single barn that was ever raised by a single person.” Working together for “a common agricultural message in the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania” has been Steele’s lifebeat for several years. Youth programs, county extension, and continuing education are programs that “partner with PFB” and “work toward a unified goal.”
Wolff and Steele are the 11th and 12th recipients of the Barn Raiser Award. The first award was given out in 1983.
