Thursday March 28th, 2024 10:07PM

Annual Ag Awards presentation honors four area men

GAINESVILLE – The annual Hall County Agribusiness Awards breakfast was held this morning at the North Hall Community Center.

Four awards were handed out to area individuals for their work promoting and advancing agriculture in Hall County.

Receiving the award for ‘Friend of Agriculture’ was Tim Evans, Vice-President for Economic Development with the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce.

“He promotes agri-business around this region and agri-tourism and does a fantastic job at it,” said award presenter David Lee of Jackson EMC.

Receiving the ‘Farmer of the Year’ award was Jarl Echols, co-owner of Jaemor Farms, now in its 105th year of continuous operation.

Hall County Extension Coordinator Michael Wheeler said of Echols as he presented the award, “He’s a fourth generation farmer and he has been farming his entire life.”

Echols gave credit to his family and to God for helping him through the challenging times, including recent concerns about below-freezing temperatures.  He said it appeared that a bountiful harvest was around the corner, that last week’s cold snap did not do the damage some feared.

The third award given out was for ‘Outstanding Agribusiness’, an enterprise that has seen strong growth over the past two decades.

Charles King of King Green presented the award to Steve Murray of New Leaf Landscape.  While technically competitors in the same industry, King said of Murray, “He truly raised the bar for landscape management, installation and landscape services in our community.”

Rounding out the award presentation was the ‘Agriculture Hall of Fame’ award, presented to Bob Whitmire, longtime raiser of Black Angus cattle in Clermont.

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