NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio — The following individuals won distinguished service awards at September meetings of the Columbiana, Portage and Stark County Farm Bureau.
Crowell
Susan Crowell retired June 30, 2019, from her position as editor of Farm and Dairy. She joined the paper in 1985 as a staff reporter and was named editor in 1989. A native of rural Holmes County, Ohio, Crowell was raised on a dairy farm near Walnut Creek and graduated from Kent State University.
During her tenure, the newspaper received the Carroll Soil and Water Conservation District’s Outstanding Service Award, the Jefferson County Friend of 4-H Award and the statewide Friend of the Forest award, presented by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry.
She is a past recipient of the Agriculture Communicator of the Year award from the Ohio Agri-Women, the Ohio Farm Bureau’s Agriculture Communicator Award and the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association’s Distinguished Service Award.
In 2014, she received one of three National Friend of Extension awards, presented by the national extension professionals’ organization, Epsilon Sigma Phi, and received the 2020 American Sheep Industry Association’s Shepherd’s Voice award for print.
She has also received numerous awards for her writing, including honors from the North American Agricultural Journalists, the National Newspaper Association, Inland Press Association, American Agricultural Editors Association and is a five-time winner of the Best Columnist award from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists.
She has been the Distinguished Guest Lecturer in Agricultural Communications at Ohio State University, and she is also a guest lecturer at Walsh University, in North Canton. She served on the vice president’s advisory council for the dean of Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and is a past president of the statewide OSU Extension advisory council.
For eight years, she was also one of Ohio’s three delegates to the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities’ Council for Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching. She also served as the CARET liaison to the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy, the governing committee for the national Cooperative Extension System.
She was the first person from Columbiana County to be accepted into the statewide two-year agricultural Leadership Education and Development program (better known as LEAD), which culminated in a two-week international ag study tour to Chile and Mexico. She has also participated in agricultural study missions to the former Soviet Union, Israel and Cuba.
Crowell lives in eastern Ohio with her husband, Keith. They have two adult children, Annette and Jon. She is an active member and elder of the New Lisbon Presbyterian Church, and is also a member of the Columbiana County Farm Bureau.
Kennedy
Nick Kennedy graduated from Wauseon High School and then graduated from Ohio State University in 2004 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Agricultural Education. He was involved in Collegiate 4-H, the Agricultural Education Society and in Student Council in the College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Science.
Kennedy started working for the Ohio Farm Bureau in 2002 as an intern for Darrell Rubel, working with youth and young farmers from across the state. He was hired as an organization director in Columbiana, Portage, Stark and Summit counties in September 2004. He currently also serves Mahoning County Farm Bureau as well.
Kennedy is currently serving on the Ohio Farm Bureau Dues Study Taskforce, Model County Farm Bureau committee and has served on the bureau’s executive committee under Jack Fisher. He is a graduate of the Leadership Stark County 26th Class. He also serves as a committee member on the Leadership Stark County opening retreat committee as well as a presenter for the last six years.
He is also a member of the marketing committee for the Stark County Junior Fair and is on the advisory committee for R. G. Drage’s agriculture program.
Ebie
Daniel L. Ebie is the son of Bob and Midge Ebie, of Brimfield, and the youngest of four. Bob Ebie purchased the current farm, which is on Congress Lake Road, in 1970.
Dan Ebie grew up involved in agriculture, from being involved with Wayne Biltz’s 4-H club, to buying his first tractor at 15, to serving as the vice president of the Maplewood Career Center FFA chapter for two years and receiving multiple awards for his hard work and dedication including the American Farmer Degree.
He started a trucking business shortly after high school, which through the years has grown into what is now D&K Materials, Inc. He has always been a supporter of both Portage and Summit county fairs and 4-H programs, from donating mulch to sponsoring awards. He also has been a supporter of Brimfield Township through donations of asphalt for township roadwork.
He bought the farm on Congress Lake Road from Bob Ebie in 2002. It has grown from its original 100 acres to more than 1,000 collective acres with cattle, hogs, and crops that Dan Ebie farms with the help of his wife Kim, children Travis and Kelsea, Jason Jenkins and Pete.
He is a graduate of Field High School and Maplewood Career Center and is a member of Community Baptist Temple, in Akron. He has been a member of the farm bureau for 39 years.
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