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January 4, 2002

Meritorious Service
Award: Wedemeyer

Texas Farm Bureau President Donald Patman (right) presents Texas Farm Bureau's most prestigious award, the Meritorious Service Award, to Bill Wedemeyer at the recent Texas Farm Bureau annual meeting.

W.C. "Bill" Wedemeyer received the Texas Farm Bureau Meritorious Service Award at the organization's annual meeting in Waco recently.

The Meritorious Service Award is Texas Farm Bureau's most prestigious award. The TFB Board of Directors selects recipients based on contributions to agriculture and the Farm Bureau organization over a lifetime of service. The award may be presented only by a unanimous vote of the board.

Donald Patman, president of the Texas Farm Bureau said, as he made the presentation, "Bill Wedemeyer has lived his life with a determination to serve his fellow man. We are most fortunate that he chose the Texas Farm Bureau as his vehicle of service."

A life-time supporter of agriculture, Wedemeyer was reared on a cotton plantation in Houston County, near Crockett. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M in 1938. After graduation, he worked as a vocational agriculture teacher and a county agent in East Texas.

Wedemeyer became a member of the Farm Bureau in 1936 and began working as a Texas Farm Bureau field representative in 1951. In 1957, he was selected to create the organization's Research, Education, and Policy Development Department.

For 27 years, Wedemeyer served as the Director of Research and Education, working to increase Farm Bureau membership and provide information to support Farm Bureau policy. He established a research library, published a weekly newsletter, and compiled subject papers to address concerns of members and county Farm Bureaus.

Wedemeyer was awarded the Bronze Star and five Silver Campaign Stars during World War II. He is an active member in Columbus Avenue Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday school and served in various church leadership positions.

Wedemeyer is married to the former Beth Jeffus August. They continue to make their home in Waco, where they raised their three sons.

U.S. food arrives in Cuba

The first commercial food shipments arrived in Cuba Dec. 16, marking the first direct commercial agriculture export from the United States to Cuba since 1963. Freighters carrying 26,400 tons of U.S.-grown corn and 500 tons of frozen chicken parts arrived in Havana Dec. 16, after departing New Orleans and Gulfport, Miss., on Dec. 14.

"This proves that it makes logical sense for Cuba and the United States to trade with one another," said Larry Cunningham, a representative for Archer Daniels Midland, which sent the corn shipment and has a contract with Cuba for seven more shipments of wheat, soybeans, rice and other grains through the end of February. "We think that the best way to improve relations with countries is for them to become trading partners."

The combined contract value of ADM's agriculture sales to Cuba is around $14 million. Critics say direct food sales to Cuba could erode the long-standing trade embargo. Cuban President Fidel Castro said more purchases would be possible if the U.S. would allow Cuba to sell its products in the United States.

Correction

In the Nov. 16 Texas Agriculture, "Opinions," page 2, statements related to the recent Biotechnology Conference in Lubbock, attributed to Jerry Harrington, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, were actually made by John Witrich, vice president and general manager of Aventis CropScience.

It is important to note that StarLink, a variety of genetically-modified corn, is NOT a Pioneer variety as stated in the article. StarLink is a variety registered to Aventis. We regret the error and apologize to Mr. Harrington and Mr. Witrich, and their respective companies, for any confusion the misinformation may have caused.

Notable Quotables

"Some believe this money ($73.5 billion earmarked for farm program funding)is technically available until April 15 (2002) — the statutory deadline for the new budget resolution to be passed by Congress. But I hope they will think very carefully about the psychology of the U.S. Congress when new (and possibly less optimistic) economic and budget deficit forecasts come out late in January 2002 from the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget."

— Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) on the possibility of dramatic erosion in political support in 2002 for federal farm program funding at the same favorable level that was available for a bill passed in 2001.