PORTAGEVILLE MAN NAMED HONORARY MU AG ALUMNI

COLUMBIA -- The superintendent of the state's largest agricultural research and extension center has been made an honorary member of the University of Missouri Ag Alumni Association.

T.E. "Jake" Fisher of Portageville is one of three persons honored today during MU's Ag Day.

The others are Lester Evans of Lebanon and Sheri Spader of Rosendale, leaders respectively in Missouri's dairy and beef industries.

Fisher manages the University of Missouri's Delta Center at Portage~ville. The Center is famous for its research on soybeans and other field crops in the Missouri Bootheel. Last year Fisher was named "Man of the Year in Agriculture" by Progressive Farmer magazine.

Fisher set up a 48-member Delta Center advisory committee made up of farm leaders who provide guidance for the Center's activities.

The Delta Center Field Day, held annually in late August or early September, has grown to be the largest in the state.

The yearly breakfast at the field day, which Fisher initiated, reads like "Who's Who in Missouri Agriculture," attracting the governor, top University administrators, as well as local, state and national elected officials.

Evans is chairman of the board of directors, Mid-America Dairymen Inc. He was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board in 1986 and elected as its chairman in 1990.

He has farmed for 35 years and operates the 2,000 acre Green Valley Farm that includes a dairy herd of 125 Holsteins, a 260-head cow-calf operation and 200 feeders.

Spader is a volunteer spokesperson for the beef industry on many issues. She served on the Missouri Cattlemen's Association beef quality assurance program and is past president of the Missouri Cattle~women.

She is also past president of the Missouri Cattlemen Association and a past member of the board of directors of the National Cattlemen Association. She and her husband and three children own and manage an Angus herd.