By Patrick Baron

BLOOMINGTON – The McLean County Chamber of Commerce and McLean County Farm Bureau highlighted the dedication and hard work of a number of local farmers last night during the chamber’s Agriculture Awards.

Farmer of the Year Roger Stoller explained while he feels other farmers deserved the award as much as him, he counts his blessings for the amount of success he’s seen.

“We’ve just been born in the United States and we have so many blessings here,” said Stoller. “Just to be able to farm is just a great privilege.”

Stoller also said he wants to leave behind a positive legacy for his family and be a good steward of the land.

Tom King, winner of the Outstanding Young Farmer Award, said farming has been in his blood for generations.

“We raise corn and soybeans – we got rid of the livestock when I was younger, but we grew up in 4-H,” King explained. “My dad got the same award when he was close to my age. Farming has always been in our family, it’s been in generations.”

King said his passion for ag education stems from his mother, who teaches young children about the importance of agriculture.

Outstanding Service to Agriculture winner Kevin Daugherty discussed his passion for spreading the message of agriculture in the classroom.

“This last school year we worked with our coordinators across the state, worked with over 663,000 students across the state – that’s individual contacts – and we’re in 62 percent of all attendance sitters across the state of Illinois,” Daugherty explained.

Daugherty said he loves telling the stories of farmers across the state.

Other winners include Bruce Thomas, winner of the Outstanding Conservationist Award, Robin Williamson, who won the Outstanding Person in Agribusiness Award, and Eric Vanasdale, who was presented with the Emerging Leader in Agriculture Award.

Patrick Baron can be reached at [email protected].