Primghar, Iowa — A business and an individual — both from Archer — have been named to the O’Brien County Agriculture Hall of Fame.
The O’Brien County Value Added Ag (VAA) Steering Committee tells us they have recognized an outstanding citizen with their annual Value Added Ag Hall of Fame Award since 2001. A business category was added in 2016 and from that time on, both an individual and a business have been recognized each year with this award.
They tell us they presented their 2023 Ag Hall of Fame awards on Monday, July 24th at the O’Brien County Fair. Dudley McDowell of rural Archer was honored as the 2023 recipient of the Value Added Ag Hall of Fame Award and the Archer Cooperative Grain Company of Archer was recognized as the business recipient of the Value Added Ag Hall of Fame Award.
According to the Ag Steering Committee, when they select a winner, the person or business must have shown leadership, stewardship, community service and service to the agricultural industry. They must also be an O’Brien County resident or someone who engages in agricultural activity in the county.
They say that this year’s individual winner, Dudley McDowell, recently retired after fifty years as a livestock and crop farmer in O’Brien County and continues to assist his daughter and son-in-law in operating the Century Farm. Over the years, Mr. McDowell’s farming operation included corn and soybeans, a farrow-to-finish hog operation and a sheep flock and he has shown hogs at the O’Brien County Fair, the Clay County Fair and the Iowa State Fair. They tell us McDowell has been a very active member of his community. He has served on the Archer Ambulance Service as an EMT and a scheduler and is a long time member of the Archer Fire Department. McDowell was an adult leader of the Eagle Musketeers 4-H Club for many years and has been on the O’Brien County Fair Board and served as sheep superintendent for many years. He has been an O’Brien County Farm Bureau member since he began farming, serving on the board of directors, serving as board president and as a voting delegate. The committee tells us McDowell served terms on the Archer Cooperative Grain Company board and Cooperative Oil board in Sheldon. McDowell is currently serving on the Prairie View Campus board of directors. Family and church are a central part of McDowell’s life. They say McDowell has served as lay leader and treasurer, on the Lord’s Acre Committee and most other committees over the years at Archer United Methodist Church. He has also been a delegate to the Iowa United Methodist Annual Conference. McDowell and his wife, Carol, have three sons, one daughter, a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.
When it comes to this year’s business winner, the committee tells us that Archer Cooperative Grain Company is one of only eleven remaining “single location” cooperatives in the state of Iowa. It was established in 1907 when a group of Archer farmers saw the need for a cooperative elevator to market their grain. Approximately thirty of these farmers raised $4,000 to purchase the Great Western Grain Company that was located in Archer and the Archer Cooperative Grain Company was formed. In 1914, a concrete elevator was built. It was only the second concrete elevator in the state of Iowa and the very first to utilize slip forms in its construction. In the beginning, the Archer Cooperative Grain Company only dealt in buying and selling grain. Today, they serve their customers with expanded services such as processing and delivering feed, selling and applying fertilizer and chicken soil conditioner, seed sales and selling and applying chemicals in addition to owning and managing two chicken layer houses. The committee says Archer Cooperative Grain Company is a strong supporter of the Archer community and the O’Brien County Fair and its exhibitors. They say their focus is on the needs of their customers and community, which is apparent in their motto and mission statement. The Archer Cooperative Grain Company’s motto is, “Our branches and roots are in Archer, Iowa” and their mission statement is, “Inspiring Independent Success, the Way Forward.”
The O’Brien County Value Added Ag Steering Committee tells us they are “honored to add Dudley McDowell and the Archer Cooperative Grain Company to the Ag Hall of Fame.”
O’Brien County Agriculture Hall of Fame Nominations are accepted year round and those received are saved and considered the next year if that nominee does not win. For more information, you can contact Kiana Johnson, O’Brien County Economic Development at 712.957.1313 or e-mail ocedc@tcaexpress.net.
