Eau Claire resident Nancy Stowe shares a congratulatory hug with 2018 Bullshipper Award recipient Ron Fodor at the Butler County Farm to Table Dinner.

Ron Fodor received an unexpected surprise with his dinner invitation Monday night.

“It's truly an honor,” said Fodor, of Slippery Rock, about receiving the 2018 Bullshipper Award. “If you look at the people who've got it over the years, they were all people who really contributed something to the community. They were all people who brought the farm and the cities together.”

Fodor, longtime district manager at the Butler County Conservation District, was presented with the award at the annual Farm to Table dinner Monday at the Vagabonds Center that was sponsored by the conservation district, the Butler County Farm Bureau, Penn State Extension, AgChoice Farm Credit and the USDA Farm Service Agency.

Fodor was hired by the district in 1981 and retired after 34 years as Butler County Conservation District director.

The Bullshipper Award has been handed out since 1970 by the Butler County Conservation District to a person who promotes agriculture in their work and the community and helps to foster positive relationships between farm producers and the consumer.

Read more in Tuesday's Butler Eagle.