Senator receives Livestock Association Hall of Fame Award

HARRISBURG, Pa. — State Sen. Mike Waugh of Shrewsbury Township, York County, received the Pennsylvania Livestock Association Hall of Fame Award during the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Keystone International Livestock Exposition in Harrisburg.

The Hall of Fame award honors excellence in animal agriculture and leaders in local, state, national and international endeavors.

Waugh has served York County’s 28th Senatorial District since 1998 and prior to that served in the state House of Representatives for six years. Waugh is current vice chairman of the Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, and previously served as chair.

Ag supporter

Many of Waugh’s legislative accomplishments support agriculture, including the recent creation of the Resource Enhancement and Protection Act, or REAP, which offers tax credits to farmers who adopt conservation practices to reduce water pollution.

He also worked with former Senator Noah Wenger to create the Farmers First Agenda that led to enhancements in farmland preservation, protections for the equine industry, and the creation of the Healthy Farms, Healthy Schools initiative.

Waugh has been the appointee to the Pennsylvania Farm Show Commission by four governors — Ridge, Schweiker, Rendell and Corbett — to help guide the management of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center. He is also a founding member of the Friends of Farm Show Foundation, which raises funds to support educational opportunities provided during the annual show.

Locally, Waugh has served as a volunteer firefighter in York County for 22 years; 12 as assistant fire chief and one term as president of the fire company.

After high school, and while taking classes at Penn State University’s York Campus, Waugh and his father created a general contracting business, Waugh Construction, where he was a managing partner.

Waugh married his high school sweetheart, Wanda, and they have one son, Joseph, and a granddaughter, Camdyn.

Equine lover

In 1992, they purchased Glen Ridge Farm, a preserved farm in York County, where they now raise and train Percheron horses and grow hay as a cash crop.

Avid equine exhibitors, the Waughs have shown their Percherons at the Pennsylvania Farm Show and Keystone International Livestock Exposition, or KILE, for many years. He is a former co-chair of KILE, and this year is the horse show committee chair.