October 12, 2009

Three Nebraskans have been selected to receive Public Service to Agriculture awards at the Nebraska Agribusiness Club’s 43rd Annual Awards banquet Nov. 5 in Lincoln.

The 2009 honorees are Ivan Rush of Scottsbluff, Dayle Wiliamson of Lincoln, and the late Charles H. Adams of Lincoln who will be honored posthumously.

Guest speaker at the banquet will be R. P. Smith, cowboy poet, of Broken Bow.

Tammy Meyer, chair of the club’s Awards Committee, said the banquet is open to the public. Tickets are $23 each. Reservations should be mailed by Oct. 26 to Dayle Williamson, 5315 Thies Cove Drive, Lincoln, NE 68516. For more information call 402-441-3178 or 402-488-5590.

Rush served 35 years as beef cattle specialist at UNL’s Panhandle Research and Extension Center at Scottsbluff and retired in 2008. He currently operates a cow-calf herd with 200 beef cows. Rush was a UNL Extension educator in Dawson County from 1965 to 1967 and a livestock specialist in Colombia, South America from 1967 to 1970, before joining the Panhandle REC faculty. His research targeted beef cattle production and the means for increasing economic returns for producers and the beef cattle industry. He was a leader in developing the 4-State Range Beef symposium which annually attracts 1,000 producers from surrounding states and Canada.

Williamson is known for his efforts in the formation and activation of Nebraska’s Natural Resources Districts. He was an assistant extension agent in Gage County and an agent in Jefferson County. In 1958 he became Assistant Executive Secretary of the Nebraska Soil and Water Commission and was appointed director by Governors Kerry, Orr and Nelson. He retired in 2000. Since 2001 he has served as agricultural representative for U.S. Senator Ben Nelson.

Adams was a UNL professor of animal science who advised more than 10,000 students and served as an administrator during more than three decades in the Department of Animal Science. Adams started at UNL in 1947 and coached UNL’s Meats Judging Teams from 1947 to 1966 and advised the Block and Bridle Club from 1952 to 1957. He served as assistant dean of what's now the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources from 1974 to 1983, retired in 1984 and passed away in 2003.