Agricultural News
Oklahoma Pork Council Awards Ron Hays with their Distinguished Service Award
Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:41:29 CDT
The Oklahoma Pork Council selected Ron Hays, director of farm programming for the Radio Oklahoma Network, to receive the Distinguished Service Award. OPC presented the award to Hays at the 2010 Oklahoma Pork Congress on Thursday, March 25. The video here with this story is a look at Ron's career in agricultural braodcasting and why the pork industry has awarded him their Distinguished Service Award.
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Hays was selected for the award based on his commitment to sharing Oklahoma's pork producers message and his long standing commitment to sharing agriculture news with Oklahoma farm and ranch families and promoting Oklahoma agriculture.
"Ron has been the voice of Oklahoma agriculture for more than 30 years now," said Roy Lee Lindsey, Jr., OPC executive director. "When other people in our state have been oblivious to what's going on in the agriculture industry, Ron's been there to tell our story."
Hays has always reached out to OPC to find what news is going on in the pork industry and shared that information with Oklahomans. He was vitally important in helping OPC inform the public that pork was safe to eat during the H1N1 flu outbreak.
"Ron has always been accurate and fair in his reporting of our industry and he is a great spokesperson for all Oklahoma agriculture," said Rick Maloney, assistant commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and ex officio member of the OPC board of directors.
Hays began his farm broadcasting career in Wichita, Kan., in 1974 at KFH, the oldest radio station in Kansas. He moved to Oklahoma in 1977 and founded the Oklahoma Agrinet, a network of radio stations across Oklahoma that aired his agricultural news and market updates daily.
In 2006, he joined Griffin Communications and their Radio Oklahoma Network began featuring Ron's daily updates. Ron also has a weekly segment titled "In the Field" on News9's Saturday morning news. This segment allows Ron to bring a weekly look at an agriculture issue to more Oklahoman's. His Web site, www.oklahomafarmreport.com, and his daily e-mail newsletter are widely used by Oklahoma agriculture leaders, other news outlets and the public as a comprehensive source for the day's agricultural news.
"I'm one of those people that read his e-mail update daily" said Maloney. "It is a wonderful tool because it gives a capsule look at the local, national and international issues that affect Oklahoma agriculture."
Hays, a native of Kentucky, grew up on a diversified farm that raised sheep, tobacco and Duroc hogs. He says he has fond memories of the swine industry and has been amazed to see how it has changed over the past few years here in Oklahoma.
"In addition to the great show pig and purebred production we've had in Oklahoma for years, the commercial hog industry has become such a large part of Oklahoma agriculture," said Hays. "I've gotten to know some of the people that run the large operations and I've seen the great care they take of the animals, how they handle the animals humanely, how they are committed to producing a safe, wholesome product and also their commitment to caring for the environment is impressive. It's been a pleasure to report on them and I am honored to be recognized by OPC as a result."
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