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VGAD honors Kee, Lovett, Peveys at banquet
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The largest used equipment inventory in the Mid-Atlantic is only a click away. Visit our website by clicking here or visit us at one of our 11 locations throughout MD, DE, VA and PA.
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VGAD honors Kee, Lovett, Peveys at banquet
1.15.2008
By KEVIN GEORGE
Editor
HARRINGTON, Del. — The Vegetable Growers’ Association of Delaware held its 30th annual awards banquet on Jan. 8 at the Harrington Fire Hall.
The group honored two individuals and a married couple with Distinguished Service Awards and two families for their longtime respective commitments to the state’s vegetable industry.
VGAD President David Marvel recognized Ed Kee, George Lovett Jr., and Linda and Barry Pevey with Distinguished Service Awards and presented the Blessing family of Houston and the Papen family of Wyoming with the first-ever Distinguished Delaware Family Vegetable Farm awards.
The two families were each given a handsome plaque and a two-foot-square sign to display on their farm to publicly herald the achievement for passers-by.
“It’s an honor to be honored by this organization,” said Lovett, a former president and board member of the VGAD. “I really don’t think I did a whole lot, but you’re good people to work with.”
Barry Pevey has been an aerial applicator for more than 30 years, and co-owner Linda Pevey is also an expert in plant pathology.
Linda Pevey thanked the organization for honoring them as a couple.
“People always ask me how I can stand to work with my husband,” she said. “But I wouldn’t trade it. I love the business and I love the farmers. I just can’t imagine it any other way.”
“People ask Linda if she flew too,” Barry Pevey said with a laugh. “She always says, ‘No. Someone has to stay on the ground and do all the work.’”
Stanley West, a prominant vegetable processor in the state, introduced Kee — who is retiring after a lengthy tenure as University of Delaware Cooperative Extension specialist for vegetable crops and will begin a new career as director of agriculture for Hanover Foods this upcoming spring.
“Ed and his associates have helped us all numerous times throughout the years,” West said. “He’s helped make this one of the best states to grow vegetables.”
“I’m flattered you think I have a role in some of these things, and that’s important to me,” Kee told the group. “But I want you to know that I am very proud of every thing you all do as farmers, agribusiness people and processors. You’re the ones that make it all work. We (in Extension) help where we can and do what we can.”
The VGAD also surprised Kee with a gift of an $11,000 check toward his scholarship endowment fund.
The night concluded with a moving testimonial from Ryan Odens, who has persevered from a disabling 2001 auto accident to again become a full-time farmer with the assistance of the Iowa Easter Seals and AgrAbility.
VGAD membership consists of more than 50 local vegetable growers, as well as crop consultants, industry personnel, university and Extension staff and others.