Longtime Conservation District manager lauded
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 for the Butler County Conservation District, was presented with the award at the annual Butler County Farm to Table dinner Monday at the Vagabonds Center 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 with the Butler County Conservation District.
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, said Ian Harrell, district manager for the conservation district.
Over the years, Fodor helped develop many of the programs that promote agriculture that still run today, Harrell said.
One of the major programs Fodor brought to the county was the Butler County Agricultural Land Preservation, a state-approved agricultural conservation easement purchase program that he directed until he retired, Harrell said.
The state program started in 1988 and the Butler County program started in 1994, said Sheryl Kelly, environmental specialist, recycling and farmland coordinator.
Fodor was the first coordinator of the program, Kelly said.
“He spent a very long portion of his career promoting agriculture, and definitely deserves to be recognized for that,” Kelly said of Fodor. “And he preserved a lot of farms.”
For landowners wishing to participate, the program allows them to preserve their valuable agricultural lands for future generations, which adds to the rural character of Butler County and keeps a balance between development and agriculture, she said.“He's been instrumental in carrying out the program,” Kelly said, adding that Fodor preserved about 50 farms, which brought about $18 million into the county.Donna Zang, the 2017 Bullshipper Award recipient and retired Penn State Extension educator, collaborated with Fodor on numerous projects for more than 10 years when she was the director of the Penn State cooperative extension in Butler County.The largest project was the Butler County Farm Tour, where Fodor and Zang were part of the core committee when the event started, she said, adding the tour promotes agriculture in Butler County.Visitors, ranging from 2,000 to 3,000 to people in neighboring counties and out of state, were able to tour agriculture-related operations or businesses in the county, she said.After Zang led the event for more than 10 years, Fodor took over as chairman up until the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau was charged with the event.Fodor also worked with farmers to develop conservation management and was involved with the Big Butler Fair and Butler Farm Show.“Certainly,” Zang said of Fodor deserving the award. “Any number of places with an opportunity to work with agriculture, Ron was there.”Fodor said the dinner shows attendees and sponsors an understanding of the harmony and hard work between rural and urban communities.“Farming was originally what kept Butler County so well off because a lot of the business in the community and the whole county was related to farming,” he said. “It makes farming still relevant ... and people realize how important farming really is because we all have to eat.”Fodor has been an active member of the Slippery Rock Rotary Club for more than 20 years. He lives in Slippery Rock with his wife, Suzanne. They have two grown daughters, Julia and Catherine.
