UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A student activist, a grassroots state dairy organization and an agricultural innovator and motivational speaker have been recognized with 2004 Leadership Awards for their service to the state's agricultural industry by the Penn State Agricultural Council.

The awards are intended to acknowledge the men and women who innovate and inspire in the state's agricultural industries, says Mary Wirth, council executive director and director of College Relations for Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. "The state's food and fiber industries face many challenges today and the people doing the day-to-day work of leadership should be identified and held up as role models," she says. "The awards also can inspire others to take leadership positions within agriculture and the broader community."

Sherisa Brammer, recipient of the council's Youth Leadership Award, is president of the Penn State Collegiate FFA and vice president of the Pennsylvania FFA Alumni Executive Committee. A junior studying agricultural and extension education at Penn State, she has served an internship at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, where she assisted with AgVenture Camps for inner-city children and worked with PDA staff to help write curricula and agricultural lesson plans that integrate academic standards. Brammer says the award is "flattering" because she doesn't see her activities as outstanding.

"I do it because I like to be involved with groups," she says. "I don't go looking for leadership -- I think it just kind of finds me. I owe a lot to the people who've gotten me where I am, and I look at taking a leadership role as giving back. So I hope that people will hear about this award and see that they can actually get some recognition for what they do, because there are a lot of people out there who do more than I do."

The Pennsylvania Dairy Stakeholders organization was presented with the council's Leadership in Action Award for its efforts to enhance the viability and expansion of the state's dairy industry. The group created a Business Planning Assistance Program to help dairy farm operators develop business and strategic plans. The group's Dairy Advocacy and Resource Team promotes positive aspects of the industry throughout the state, and its Dairy Leaders Summit assembled state and national dairy leaders in Harrisburg to develop a state action plan for the industry.

Stakeholders' president David McCorkle says the group's strength is "the dedicated volunteers who have been successful in pulling together resources from many different companies and individuals in the commonwealth to accomplish our objective."

"This award means a lot to the organization, but in my estimation, it means more to the dairy industry in Pennsylvania," he says. "The stakeholders are joining with other groups involved in promoting the dairy industry including the new state-appointed dairy task force. So all of us are working hard to let consumers know about the importance of the dairy industry and to motivate those involved in the industry to do all they can to keep the expansion moving along."

Richard Waybright, recipient of the council's Leadership Award, is head of Mason Dixon Farms Inc., a ninth-generation family dairy business in Gettysburg that produces more than 56 million pounds of milk a year. His operation has embraced several innovations, including a passive solar free-stall barn, a 30-foot cutting width mower, a computerized feed mill and an anaerobic manure digester that produces all the electricity used on his farm. Waybright has received numerous honors and has been consulted by national and foreign leaders for his knowledge of milk and farm production.

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EDITORS: Contact Mary Wirth at 814-863-9646 or mfw10@psu.edu.

Writer/Editor: Gary Abdullah Office 814-863-2708 FAX 814-863-9877