AgSOURCE presents friend of the cooperative and distinguished leadership award
VERONA, Wis. - AgSource recognized individuals who have provided valuable service and dedication to the cooperative at their annual meeting March 18-19. The Distinguished Leadership Award was presented to Dr. Robert Damm for his service to AgSource Cooperative and DHI. G. Willys Gjermundson and Bill Battista received the Friend of the Cooperative Award for leadership to AgSource and CRI.
The Distinguished Leadership Award is presented to an individual who has demonstrated exceptional service and provided extraordinary leadership at all levels of the cooperative. Dr. Robert Damm served in many leadership roles in DHI and the dairy industry.
Damm's association with DHI began with farming when he first became a member of Central Wisconsin DHI Cooperative in 1972. He later went on to serve as a director, and president of the board. At the state level, Damm was a member of the first WDHIC hearing panel elected in 1981. After leaving dairy production Damm found a career in DHI, first with Pennsylvania DHIA in 1986 and returned to Wisconsin in 1988 to manage Central Wisconsin DHI. He also served as manager foe Dairy Lab Services in Dubuque, Iowa, the DHI organization serving Iowa and Illinois, from 1990 to 97.
Damm also served as a director on the Stetsonville Farmers Union Medford Cooperative and even facilitated their strategic planning. He was a director and President of Midwest Breeders at the time of their merger with Minnesota Valley Breeders that formed 21st Century Genetics. Former CRI CEO Tom Lyon stated of Bob's leadership during that period: "Bob Damm served the cooperative in a leadership role during some of the most stressful years for agriculture in the past half century. Bob raised the level of board debate in a very positive way."
The Friend of the Cooperative Award is presented annually to an individual, not a member, who has rendered outstanding serving and advanced the interest of our cooperative and our industry. AgSource recognized Bill Battista and G. Willys Gjermundson as recipients of the 2008 Friend of the Cooperative.
G. Willys Gjermundson, served as manager of Agricultural Records Cooperative, known as AgSource Cooperative today, from 1965 to 1979, and led the cooperative through its initial phase of growth and expansion. Under his management, ARC expanded services, doubled its membership and almost tripled the number of DHI cows processed.
During Willys' tenure, ARC grew its electronic farm accounting services, initiated soil testing in 1967 and forage testing in 1978. The cooperative installed the state's first electronic milk testing instrument in 1968 and the initiated SCC testing in 1977. The first mergers of DHI associations into ARC, and the initiation of direct field services occurred under his management in 1966. Willy retired from ARC on April 30, 1979, having served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the cooperative for over 14 years. By that time, ARC membership was at 15,600 herds and almost three quarters of a million cows on DHI test. Wisconsin had the largest DRPC in the country and its herds constituted 25 percent of DHI membership, nationwide. He and his wife, June moved to Florida and he passed away in 1982.
Bill Battista led the cooperative through a period of tremendous change and continued growth. A native of Pennsylvania, Bill first joined ARC immediately after obtaining his masters Degree at UW-Madison in 1972 and was hired as a Field Representative. After a brief period with a local accounting firm, Bill rejoined ARC as its third General Manager in June 1979. Accomplishments during Battista's tenure as Manager included building the Menomonie DHI laboratory, enhancing relationships with DHI associations, moving the cooperative from the University Avenue location to Tokay Blvd, and organizing the first statewide DHI convention in 1980 with over 800 people in attendance. Battista left the cooperative in 1985, and until last June spent the last 21 years with Destron Fearing, one of the leading providers of animal identification systems in the world.
AgSource, headquartered in Verona, Wis., is a subsidiary of Cooperative Resources International and a member-owned cooperative that provides agricultural testing and management information services to over 5,500 members with seven locations throughout the Midwest and Idaho.
