BEXLEY, Ohio — Ohio First Lady Karen W. Kasich and Ohio Agriculture Director David T. Daniels honored the four 2013 Ohio Agriculture Women of the Year Award winners at a reception Dec. 12 at the Ohio Governor’s Residence and Heritage Gardens.
Award winners include Joanne Kick-Raack, of Pataskala; Lisa Schacht, of Canal Winchester; Morgan Taggart, of Cleveland; and Micki Zartman, of Worthington.
“These compelling Ohio women have spent their lives working to strengthen and advance the state’s largest industry,” said \Kasich. “I am so pleased to honor their incredible accomplishments and help share their stories.”
Joanne Kick-Raack has more than 35 years in the agriculture industry. In her capacity as the state director for the Pesticide Safety Education Program at The Ohio State University Extension, she built a community of cooperation and participation for the education needs of the 30,000 licensed pesticides applicators in Ohio.
She was also instrumental in creating the certification process and implementation for the Ohio Certified Crop Advisor program.
Lisa Schacht and her husband, David, manage their family farm, the Schacht Farm Market located in Canal Winchester. She assists in the daily operation of the farm and manages the market .
She is the 2011 and 2012 president of the Ohio Produce Growers and Marketers Association, and the first female to hold this statewide leadership role.
Morgan Taggart is the program specialist for agriculture and natural resources at The Ohio State University Extension in Cuyahoga County, where she has worked for the past eight years.
She provides training and technical assistance to both urban agriculture and local food projects in Greater Cleveland. She is also one of the original participants in the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition in partnership with OSU-Extension and Case Western Reserve University.
Micki Zartman is known for a great contribution to agriculture education, having worked as a volunteer coordinator of Ag Literature and Outreach, primarily with The Ohio State University. In 1999, she founded Scarlet and Gray Ag Day at The Ohio State University, and has more recently served as the coordinator of the Ohio World Food Prize Program.
The award program is administered through the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Office of the First Lady.
Winners were selected on the basis of their outstanding contributions to Ohio agriculture, leadership and advocacy in the agricultural community and significant impact on the agriculture industry as a whole.
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