CropMetrics - Innovator of the Year in Ag

CropMetrics irrigation software company wins innovator os the year award

Area Agriculture business leaders were recognized Tuesday afternoon during the Fremont Chamber Excellence in Agriculture Awards Banquet held at Fremont Golf Club.

Living in an agricultural mecca, the Chamber uses the event to recognize hardworking families who are the backbone of making up Nebraska’s largest industry.

Ray Kucera Jr. and family were the winners of the Farm Family of the Year. Additionally, Hormel Foods won Ag Business of the Year and CropMetrics received the honor of taking home the Innovator of the Year award.

Joan Ruskamp, a Dodge-based cattle feeder and farmer with her husband, Steve, served as the banquet’s keynote speaker.

Ruskamp serves an advocate for agriculture through an organization known as CommonGround, where women in agriculture have conversations about the food they grow, and how they produce it.

Personal experiences are shared, as well as science and research, to sort out what is fact and fiction in regard to the AG industry, information on the CommonGround website says.

Ruskamp said that there is a growing divide and disconnect when it comes to what are healthy, safe and humane farming practices.

“Years ago the question was, what’s for dinner?” Ruskamp said. “Now the question is, what’s in my dinner?”

The goal is for Ruskamp and her collogues to educate the public through a variety of different platforms and outlets, she said.

With so many misconceptions and preconceived notions floating around about Genetically Modified Organisms, cattle antibiotics and hormones, there is a need to set the record straight to lessen the divide between farmers and the public.

Ruskamp said that to do so, farmers need to stay positive, include the public, prove their credibility and be real with consumers.

While not everybody will ever agree with all farming practices, having productive conversation leads to building bridges rather than burning them.

Conversation can start among something as simple as a group of friends, she said.

“We want people to pass information along in their friendship circles,” Ruskamp said. “That is how information is spread – through social media and their peers… conversation makes a huge difference with education.”

Source: Freemont Tribune

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