Sympathy is extended to Lynae Grant, Class 36 on the sudden passing of her 36 year old brother, a rancher in Montana. Lynae is employed at Grant 4-D Farms in Rupert.
 
Our prayers and thoughts are with Dane Higdem, Class 34 on the recent passing of his Father. Dane works for Glanbia Nutritionals in Twin Falls.
 
Congratulations to Jarom Jemmett, Class 39. He was elected as Vice President and Brennan Gabiola-Harris, Class 32 was elected as Secretary/Treasurer of the Idaho Onion Growers' Association. Also serving on the IOGA board of directors is Josh Rubel, Class 32, Clinton Wissel, Class 3, and Mike Thornton, Class 12, U of I CALS representative.
 
The LIA Board of Trustees Executive Committee met via conference call Friday, March 20. At that time, they made the decision to cancel the 2020 Washington, DC Experience and also the 2020 Golf Tournament scheduled for June 12. Both events were cancelled due to the circumstances surrounding the Coronavirus.
 
Mac Reynolds, Class 40 recently hosted the U of I CALS Food and Agricultural Business Club Boardroom Series tour at PNW Farmer's Cooperative in Genesee. Mac serves as Commodity Coordinator at the cooperative.
 
Wedding bells rang in McCall for Ray Mosman, son of Cathy Mosman, Class 4 and the late Dave Mosman, Class 12, and brother of Katie (Mosman) Wilson Class 39. Ray and his wife Morgan will continue to manage the family farming operation on the Nezperce prairie.
 
Congratulations to Craig Phillips, Class 39 who was recently featured in an Idaho Farm Bureau special video dealing with the role of farmers and American agriculture in the Coronavirus pandemic. Craig farms and ranches in Menan.
 
At the 2020 LIA Graduation of Class 40 it was announced that the $100,000 goal of the auction had been surpassed the night before with a total income of $113,600. Everyone celebrated with this great accomplishment. The story only gets better. The Auction Committee had used new software, Auction Frog, to handle all of the transactions. When the dust settled and we returned to the office on Monday we began to re-think the total based upon increased table sponsors, increased attendance, and a strong auction. The total raised at the auction was actually $154,316 making it the largest auction in the history of LIA since the first auction held in 1996.
 
Valley Wide Cooperative has established a Memorial Scholarship honoring the life of Eric Beck, Class 12 who farmed and ranched in the Menan area. Eric held a number of leadership positions with Valley Wide Cooperative through the years. Eric passed away in 2017 after a long battle with cancer.
 
U of I CALS Dean Michael Parrella announced that John Wright, Class 37 will serve as Project Manager for the new $25 million research dairy near Rupert. The project CAFÉ (Center for Agriculture, Food & Environment) is progressing with the purchase of land and development drawings at this time. John retired last year after 41 years in the dairy industry. He held a number of leadership positions during his service to the industry
 
Over 1800 potential LIA participants are receiving a postcard the first of April inviting them to make an application for LIA Class 41. We encourage each LIA alumni to do your part to encourage individuals to complete the application by the August 1 deadline.
 
Can you help us? We have lost connection with the following LIA alumni. If anyone has contact information for these individuals please pass it along to us so we can update our files.
 
We need mailing address for:
Richard Crapo, Class 4 (Salt Lake City, UT)
Amanda Gearhart, Class 34 (Burns, OR)
Kristin Keith, Class 16 (Athol, ID)
Steve Peterson, Class 11 (Overland Park, KS)

We need email address for:
Becky Dean, Class 27
Paul Lloyd, Class 20
Sue Switzer, Class 27
Dan Ward, Class 11
Lynn Woodell, Class 24


Finally, the University of Florida (UF/IFAS) Center for Public Issues Education in Agriculture and Natural Resources is conducting a survey of agricultural leadership members' perceptions of the 2019 novel coronavirus COVID-19. As opinion leaders in the field, your responses will help us identify best methods of communicating key information and meeting the needs of agriculture and natural resources industry members.
The survey should take no more than 15 minutes of your time, and your responses are completely confidential. 
Follow this this link to take the survey:
https://ufl.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_799RCOmK258LEdT
 
Thank you in advance for your participation. Your responses are very valuable and appreciated!
 
Sincerely,
Dr. Lauri M. Baker, Associate Professor
University of Florida Dept. Agricultural Edu. & Comm.

Congratulations to Willie Bokma, Class 37 and his wife Valerie on their daughter Julia who will be graduating on March 15 from University of Washington in Seattle with her Doctor of Nurse Practitioner Degree. Julia will do her residency at a Veteran's Administration hospital somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Most recently, Julia has been an oncology nurse at Swedish Hospital.
 
Congratulations to Stephen Parrott, Class 39 who was recently selected to receive a Brave and Bold Award from the University of Idaho - honoring young alumni who have an outstanding career achievement or record of volunteerism. Parrott is a former U of I Student Body President and is currently employed with Northwest Farm Credit Services.
 
Please keep in your thoughts and prayers Alan Martinson, Class 27 and his wife Virginia. Alan recently discovered that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Alan has selected to have surgery in early April. Alan serves as Latah County Weed Superintendent and is also an LIA trustee.
 
Thanks to everyone who helped to make the 2020 LIA Auction a success. The goal of the auction as set by the Board of Trustees was $100,000. At Graduation, Chairman of the Auction Committee Kyle Woods, Class 32 reported the results of the auction were in excess of $113,000.
 
During the course of the Auction two special events took place. Don Dixon, Class 15 was honored as an LIA Founder and had several members of his family present at the Founder's Table. Don served in a variety of roles in Idaho Agriculture and government service and has retired to his farm in New Sweden, Idaho outside of Idaho Falls. Also recognized was TLK Dairy of Mountain Home as the Legacy Farm Family. The award is sponsored by Ada County Farm Bureau. Their County President, Neal Durrant, Class 34 presented a framed photo of the Ketterling Family following the showing of the Legacy video. Members of the Ketterling Family were on stage for the recognition and included the following LIA Alumni: Terry Ketterling, Class 9; Tony Ketterling, Class 31; daughter Launa Fowler, Class 32 and husband Nate Fowler, Class 33.
 
Congratulations to the following that were honored as Lifetime Members at Graduation on Friday, February 28:
 
Trisha Cracroft, Class 39
Rod Endow, Class 13
Jacob Gisler, Class 39
Dean Langley, Class 9
David Marchbanks, Class 12
Kelly Olson, Class 16
Stephen Parrott, Class 39
Siska Reece, Class 38
 
 
The following LIA Alumni received special recognition as ten-year members of LIA:
 
Valentine Celaya, Class 29
Patty Jo Courtney, Class 29
Benjamin Kelly, Class 29
Don McFarland, Class 1
Jim Miller, Class 29
Kim O'Neill, Class 27
Susan Smith, Class 29
Cornel Van Dam, Class 22
 
The "Wayne Meyer Statesman Award", was presented by Karleen Meyer, LIA Affiliate Member in honor of her late husband. The recipient this year was Brent Reinke, Class 40. Reinke has a long history of public service which includes: Filer City Council 1986-1994; Twin Falls County Commissioner 1994-1997; Director of Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections 1997-2006; and Director of Idaho Department of Corrections 2006-2014. Reinke has served under four Idaho Governors. Reinke is currently serving as a Twin Falls County Commissioner again and is actively engaged in writing a new Comprehensive Plan for Twin Falls County.
 
The "Dave Sparrow Stake in the Ground Award" was presented to LIA Class 40 member Mike Meyers. Mike currently serves as Deputy Watermaster for District 63 in Caldwell. The recipient of this award is selected by class members, who they identify has improved the most since starting the class.
 
A new award was presented for the first time, "Ramsey Innovation Award" honoring the life of Samantha Ramsey, Class 35. This award was established as a memorial by Dick Rush, LIA Affiliate Member and his wife Nancy who were at graduation to present the award. Receiving the award was Bo Isham, Class 40. Bo and his wife Kayla own and operate a company they established in 2016 - Ag Idaho Consulting. The company assists farmers with information related to commodity inputs. Bo currently works with several farmers in the Treasure Valley who farm collectively over 17,000 acres.

Excitement built during the Graduation of Class 40 when Former Director of Agriculture Dick Rush, LIA Affiliate Member now retired and Rick Phillips, Class 1 currently with Simplot Company stepped to the stage to provide history of the formation of LIA in 1985. Their presentation was followed by the announcement of graduate 1000 from the program - Brett Ingles, Ingles works for the NRCS in Boise's State Office. With the completion of Class 40 there have been a total of 1,018 LIA graduates.