FROM THE HARVESTER FEBRUARY 1980

AGRICULTURAL HALL OF FAME INDUCTS SIX

Former FFVA President Vance Vogel (left) and his wife talk with former FFVA director Ed Mitchell before the first Florida Agriculture Hall of Fame dinner in 1980. Click on image to see full size page.

The newly established Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame recently inducted six charter members.

Agriculture Commissioner Doyle Conner served as master of ceremonies and Lt. Gov. Wayne Mixson gave the keynote address at a dinner honoring the six on Feb. 9, 1980 in Tampa.

The six inductees are a good beginning for a potential list of Who’s Who in Florida Agriculture. The six inductees are as follows:

1. T.G. Lee, the revered Orlando dairyman who has worked diligently and unselfishly to enhance the overall quality of the state’s dairy industry

2. Hoyle Pounds, the Winter Garden farm implement pioneer who ushered in the age of mechanization on the Florida farm in the 1920s by becoming the first to put rubber tires on tractors

3. Ed Finlayson, the Greenville farmer and county agent who discovered, named and introduced Pensacola Bahia grass that now covers more than five million acres of pasture in the southern part of the United States

4. The late Nathan Mayo, the long-time Florida commissioner of agriculture, who served the state for 37 years and was responsible for much of the state’s growth from 1923 until his death in 1960.

5. The late Henry Partin, the Osceola county cattleman who introduced the Brahman breed to the state and was the founding father of the Florida Cattleman’s Association

6. The late Egbert Reasoner, the world-famed horticulturist who brought more than a thousand varieties of plants, trees, shrubs, vines and citrus from around the world to our state and will long be remembered for his introduction of the pink grapefruit

FFVA was well represented at the dinner by several officers of the association including former FFVA President Vance Vogel and Board Member Ed Mitchell.

FFVA extends its congratulations to the inductees and their respective families for this great honor.