Ohio Agriculture Women of the Year award winners announced

Four Ohioans were honored recently as the 2013 Ohio Agriculture Women of the Year award winners.

“These compelling Ohio women have spent their lives working to strengthen and advance the state’s largest industry,” said Ohio First Lady Karen Kasich who recognized the winners at a reception. “I am so pleased to honor their incredible accomplishments and help share their stories.”

Each winner had her name engraved on a plaque for permanent display at the Ohio Department of Agriculture and a commendation from the governor and first lady. Recipients also may serve as members of the selection committee the following year. Winners were selected on the basis of their outstanding contributions to Ohio agriculture, leadership and advocacy in the agricultural community and significant impact on the agriculture industry as a whole.

The winners were the following:

Joanne Kick-Raack (Pataskala)

Kick-Raack has more than 35 years in the agriculture industry. In her capacity as the state director for the Pesticide Safety Education Program at Ohio State University Extension, she built a community of cooperation and participation for the education needs of the 30,000 licensed pesticides applicators in Ohio. She also was instrumental in creating the certification process and implementation for the Ohio Certified Crop Advisor program.

Lisa Schacht (Canal Winchester)

Schacht and her husband, David, manage their family farm, the Schacht Farm Market located in Canal Winchester. She assists in the daily operation of the farm and manages the market along with her industry organization involvement. In the last 30 years, Schacht has assumed every responsibility required to establish and develop a successful food farm business. Schacht is the 2011 and 2012 president of the Ohio Produce Growers and Marketers Association and the first female to hold this statewide leadership role.

Morgan Taggart (Cleveland)

Taggart is the program specialist for agriculture and natural resources at OSU Extension in Cuyahoga County, where she has worked for the past eight years. Taggart provides training and technical assistance to both urban agriculture and local food projects in greater Cleveland. She also is one of the original participants in the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition in partnership with Extension and Case Western Reserve University. Through the food policy coalition, she collaborates with market managers throughout Cuyahoga County to increase utilization of food assistance programs at farmers markets and helps coordinate the Produce Perks program.

Micki Zartman (Worthington)

Zartman is known for a great contribution to agriculture education, having worked as a volunteer coordinator of ag literature and outreach, primarily with OSU. In 1999, she founded Scarlet and Gray Ag Day at Ohio State as an effort to teach children about the industry. She has more recently served as the coordinator of the Ohio World Food Prize Program.