Nov. 9 is the final day to make reservations for the Nov. 14 Butler County Farm-City and Annual Awards Banquet.

This year the banquet is being held at The Atrium along Route 422 near Prospect. Light refreshments will be served at 6 p.m., followed by dinner. Reservations can be made by calling the Penn State Extension Office at 724-287-4761, Farm Service Agency at 724-482-4800, Ext. 2, or by contacting the Butler Conservation District at 724-284-5270. Cost per person is $15 paid in advance; there will be no tickets sold at the door. Tickets may also be purchased from any Butler Rotarian.

This year's banquet will be the 40th annual awards dinner. Trapper John will be the guest speaker. The Farm-City Banquet is supported by all agricultural agencies, along with the Butler Rotary Club.

Farm-City relations continue to be a challenge, even more so in a county like Butler that is seeing more and more of a population increase. Farmers need to take every opportunity to inform and educate their nonfarming neighbors. The fact that most of society is at least one and maybe two generations removed from production agriculture will only mean intensifying this effort in the future.

Generally, nonfarmers are supportive of agriculture. This is especially true if they understand what all is involved to operate a farm today. Farm-City alliances need formed so that when community support is needed for various proposals the entire community understands the positive and negative aspects of each.

In the U.S., our food is cheap compared to other countries. Americans only spend 11 percent of their disposable income on food. The U.S. has the safest, most abundant food supply in the world. With respect to the Farm-City banquet, the highlight of the evening will be the presentation of the Bullshipper Award, which is presented each year to the individual who excels in promoting Farm-City relations in and around Butler County.

Previous Bullshipper Award recipients have been:

1968 — A Wendel Weihe

1969 — Loyal Ramsey

1970 — Lee Roy Miller

1971 — A Gus Bachman

1972 — John Graham

1973 — Robert Kaufman

1974 — Dick Rau

1975 — Russ Pizor

1976 — Art Wick

1977 — Judy Cranmer

1978 — Dale Fleming

1979 — Jim Faust

1980 — W. Allen Ramsey

1981 — Dave Adams

1982 — Warren Ihlenfeld

1983 — Paul Rex

1984 — Belle Fleming

1985 — Bill Roenigk

1986 — Gerald Kriley

1987 — Larry Youkers

1988 — Robert Wick

1989 — Mike Mostowy

1990 — Robert Rugaber

1991

— Bob Brandon

1992 — Francis Griffin

1993 — Dolores Williams

1994 — Harold Dunn

1995 — Dorothy Bupp

1996 — Ken Metrick

1997 — Kathryn Helfer

1998 — Franklin Knauf

1999 — Larry Berg

2000 — Butler Eagle

2001 — David Lamperski

2002 — Paul Soursa

2003 — Roland Herb

2004 — Kathy Hartzell

2005 — Sid Schiever

2006 — Mary ZacherlLuke Fritz is executive director of the Butler County Farm Service Agency.