The 2013 recipient of the Steve Atkisson Indiana Dairy Service award is the late Gary Kuhlmann of Carlinville, Illinois, a long-time field services supervisor for Prairie Farms Dairy, Inc. The award was presented to Gary’s son Shawn at the 14th annual Indiana Milk Quality Conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on Tuesday, April 9, 2013 for “outstanding contributions to the dairy industry of Indiana.” Born and raised on a dairy farm in Illinois, Gary Kuhlmann, earned his bachelor’s degree in horticulture before being drafted into the U.S. Army and serving his country during the Vietnam War.

Joe Wright of the 1,200-cow V&W Farms in Avon Park, Florida, has been in the media spotlight lately – a little too much in the spotlight, as it turns out. Wright, who is president of the Southeast Milk cooperative, was interviewed for a Feb. 22 Los Angeles Times article on immigration. One of his quotes the article used was, “We cannot milk cows without Hispanic labor, period.”