2015 Ag Hall of Fame inductees announced
The Royal Register News
PASCO - The 2015 inductees to the Mid-Columbia Agriculture Hall of Fame were announced by the Greater Pasco Chamber of Commerce at the REAL Ag luncheon at the Holiday Inn Express on Tuesday, Jan. 6.
The three individuals and one couple will be honored at an installation gala at the Pasco Red Lion on Thursday, Jan. 22, sponsored by the Chamber and the Port of Pasco.
The new inductees are being recognized for their outstanding contributions to agriculture and agribusiness in four categories. The categories and the inductees for 2015 follow:
The Mid-Columbia Ag Hall of Fame Pioneer Award will honor the late Leo Fangman and his widow, Dorothy Fangman, who moved to the Columbia Basin with their seven children in 1968.
In addition to operating their farm and apple orchards, they have been tireless advocates for agriculture. Leo served as a board member and president of the South Columbia Basin Irrigation District and lobbied many times in Washington, D.C., for the interests of irrigators.
The Young Agribusiness Person of the Year title will be conferred on Nicole Berg. She is part of a large family farming operation in the Horse Heaven Hills, but her contribution to agribusiness goes far beyond the farm.
Berg has served on the boards of the Benton County Conservation District, the South Central Resource Conservation and Development Council and the Benton County Noxious Weed Control Board. She is a past president of the Benton County Association of Wheat Growers, and at the state level she was the first woman president of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers.
The Ag Advisor Award was earned by agriculture teacher Jennifer Yochum. She attended Pasco High and CBC, earned a bachelor's degree in agriculture at WSU, with honors, and a master's in education from Heritage College.
Yochum has taught at River View High School in Finley for 17 years. She has advised FFA members and helped them prepare for competitions.
Yochum manages the Round Robin fitting and showing contests at the Benton-Franklin Fair and the Columbia Basin Junior Livestock Show, and organizes the Lower Columbia Basin FFA Jamboree.
The Visionary Award, for a person who has had an extraordinary impact on agriculture, honors Gary Middleton, who grew up in the Columbia Basin and has farmed here since 1974.
Middleton Organic Orchards produces organic cherries, apples and blueberries.
Middleton is on the boards of the Washington Growers Clearing House Association, the Washington State Horticultural Association and the Franklin County Farm Bureau.
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