Ripley area beef producer Robert Emerson has won the annual Tommy Cooper award for outstanding contribution to agriculture in Bruce Grey.
Emerson beat out seven other nominees for the award in Elmwood last night.
Emerson says it’s tremendous honour to be recognized by his peers in farming and he is glad to share it with previous winners that date back to 1959.
Emerson was nominated by the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture — in part for his work as Past President of the group.
Emerson feels most proud of his work lobbying federal and provincial politicians and creating a good relationship to improve agriculture.
But he says more work needs to be done to improve agriculture locally and across the province.
Emerson notes agriculture will soon pass auto manufacturing as the number one industry in Canada and he wants governments to do more to help farmers.
Emerson says they need to focus on the cost of production to increase the profit margin — and that will attract more young farmers.
The average age of the Canadian farmer is 60 years old.
Emerson also feels food security and food safety will continue to be big issues for Canadians.
The Tommy Cooper award is presented annually by Bayshore Broadcasting and the Sun Times in honour of the former Grey County farm representative from 1920 to 1959.
Tommy Cooper nominee Jim Algie was also honoured last night.
The retired Sun Times reporter won the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture Award of Merit for his newspaper coverage for the last 30 years.
