DENVER — The Colorado FFA Foundation is pleased to announce four inductees into the Farm Credit Colorado Agriculture Hall of Fame for 2022, representing a wide range of Colorado agriculture. Beth LaShell, Durango, Andy Wick, Austin, Brian Allmer (posthumous) from Briggsdale, and Vernon Cooksey, (posthumous) from Roggen, will all be formally honored and inducted into the Farm Credit Colorado Agriculture Hall of Fame on March 2, 2022 at the annual Hall of Fame Banquet.
“It is with the upmost pleasure that we recognize these four individuals for their everlasting impact in agriculture to our state and nation,” said Telbe Storbeck, chair of the Colorado FFA Foundation, “Their accomplishments are second to none, and they are more than deserving of this honor. Congratulations to the HOF class of 2022!”
LaShell is coordinator of the Old Fort for Fort Lewis College, where she manages the cattle and hay production and, as the originator of the Farmer-in-Training program, trains beginning farmers in vegetable and fruit production and financial management. Cooksey was a wheat farmer and community leader, farming with three generations of his family on a diversified wheat farm near Roggen which includes cattle, corn, beans, millet, sunflowers, hay, pumpkins, watermelon, milo, and barley. Allmer was a pioneering ag broadcaster, whose journalistic endeavors and friendship stretched across a broad swath of Colorado agriculture, as he introduced webcasting and live streaming into the Colorado ag world, and was the voice of many competitions at the National Western Livestock Show and the Colorado State Fair. Andy Wick is a dairyman who is devoted to growth and innovation as well as leadership in agriculture organizations, being an advocate for agriculture, and working with young people to ensure the future of agriculture.
The honorees will join 97 other outstanding Colorado agriculturists who have been similarly honored since 1989. All Agriculture Hall of Fame members’ portraits are displayed in the Farm Credit Colorado Agriculture Hall of Fame in the CoBank Center for Agricultural Education at Colorado State University.
Hosted by the Colorado FFA Foundation, the induction ceremony is held yearly to induct members into the Agriculture Hall of Fame who have significantly contributed to Colorado’s second largest industry. The induction ceremony will be held simultaneously in Denver and in Montrose, with the events connected virtually through sound and video. A unique, multi-media presentation will highlight the life of each new inductee during the ceremony. More information about the Colorado Agriculture Hall of Fame is available here: http://coloradoffafoundation.org/farm-credit-colorado-agriculture-hall-of-fame/.
— Colorado FFA Foundation