Raymond Sidwell of Goltry posthumously honored by OSU

Friday, May 23, 2014

The late Raymond Sidwell of Goltry has been posthumously honored as a 2014 Professional Master Agronomist Award recipient by Oklahoma State University’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

Sidwell served as senior station manager for DASNR’s 143-acre North Central Research Station, located in the heart of wheat production country just west of Lahoma, from June of 1980 until his passing in December of 2013.

“Thirty-three years of Ray’s meticulous management of the facility allowed for major research efforts in wheat breeding and variety development, soil fertility, weed science, soybean varieties and cropping systems, grain sorghum variety trials, plant pathology and entomology,” said Brian Arnall, OSU Cooperative Extension precision nutrient management specialist.

Through station educational activities such as the Annual Lahoma Wheat Tour, Sidwell hosted literally thousands of guests over the years, including agricultural producers, commodity groups, foreign dignitaries, national and state legislators and numerous other officials, representatives and individuals from the public and private sectors.

“Ray became an ambassador for Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station and Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service efforts conducted at the station, showing how the division’s two state agencies were meeting the land-grant mission of helping Oklahomans improve the quality of life for them, their families and communities,” said Dave Porter, head of the OSU Department of Plant and Soil Sciences.

The North Central Research Station is a world-class facility that is renowned by many in the agricultural industries because of its many and significant positive effects on agriculture throughout the southern Great Plains states.

“Under Ray’s watchful eye, the Lahoma station has been a gem of information for wheat and canola growers and others involved in production agriculture, research and Extension, largely because of the work and attention to detail he and his staff put into its maintenance, as well as their ability to see where improvements could be made to better serve all agricultural clientele,” Porter said.

The Sidwells – Ray, his wife Brenda and their children Bambi and Brady – have long been highly-regarded members of Oklahoma’s agricultural and agribusiness communities. Arnall said they are recognized by their farmer peers as very progressive and proactive production agriculturalists.

“Ray implemented many science-proven practices into the Sidwell family operation that were backed by cutting-edge research done at the North Central Research Station under his guidance,” he said. “In turn, this has served to add credibility and adoptability of research done at the station by his farming neighbors in Alfalfa, Garfield, and Major counties.”

The Professional Master Agronomist Award was initiated in 1947 as a means of recognizing individuals within DASNR’s Extension and research systems who have actively contributed valuable public service through their efforts in the disciplines of soil conservation, range management or crop production. The award is presented annually during the OSU Department of Plant and Soil Sciences Scholarship and Awards Banquet.