MOUNT VERNON — Two Gambier farmers were awarded the 18th annual Luke Biggs Award at Monday’s meeting of the Mount Vernon Kiwanis Club at The Alcove Restaurant. Dan and Tammy Joseph were presented the award by Kiwanis member Doug McLarnan during a program that also featured Ohio Farm Bureau Federation speaker Christopher C. Henney.
Luke Biggs was a Clinton Township farmer and member of Kiwanis for 44 years. He was involved with farming, conservation and overseas work, including CROP, the Christian Rural Overseas Program, work in India.
Dan Joseph thanked the crowd as he and his wife accepted the plaque. He said they were honored to receive the award from the Kiwanis organization, and also had a personal memory of Biggs and his overseas work.
“Some 35 years ago, I had the opportunity to go to a community Thanksgiving service in which Luke Biggs gave a slide show about his work in India,” Joseph said. “One of his last slides was a picture of a wheat crop that would have looked good here in Knox County. That’s a real tribute to him and his service.”
McLarnan said the Josephs were chosen for the honor because of their extensive involvement with agricultural activities and organizations in Knox County, including the Gambier Gang 4-H Club, Agriculture Awareness Day at the Knox County Fairgrounds, Junior Fair Sales Committee, fair livestock judging, hosting the Heart of Ohio Tour, and serving as officers on the Knox County Pork Producers Council and the Sheep Improvement Association. They run the Joseph Hog and Sheep Farm on Hopewell Road near Gambier. Tammy is also a nurse in the cardiac rehabilitation department at Knox Community Hospital.
“They have installed and utilized numerous conservation practices and are enrolled in the USDA Environmental Quality Incentives Program to improve grazing efficiencies on their operation,” McLarnan said of the Josephs’ environmental work on their farm.
Henney is the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation’s policy development director. He spoke about the importance of agriculture in Ohio, pointing out that one out of six Ohioans are employed in agriculture or food processing, which makes Ohio seventh in the nation. He said 50 percent of land in the state is classifiable as farm land, and that 98 percent of all farms are family owned.
According to Henney, there are 1,220 farms in Knox County, which average 170 acres in size. Henney said the next big thing in agriculture, currently in development in Akron, is biopolymers. These are polymers derived from corn and soybeans that are used to manufacture plastics.
