Nafziger honored at IFCA conference

PEORIA, Ill. — Emerson Nafziger was honored for his “unwavering loyalty, passion and positive impact on the ag retail industry” at the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association’s annual conference.

Nafziger, University of Illinois Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics professor emeritus, was a professor and Extension agronomist for nearly 36 years and retired on Dec. 31, 2017.

Throughout his career and after his retirement, Nafziger was a regular speaker at the IFCA conferences and continued conducting research with the organization.

Presenting the award on Jan. 21 were Dan Schaefer, IFCA director of nutrient stewardship; John Pike, southern Illinois coordinator for the Nutrient Research Education Council’s nitrogen management research conducted by IFCA and owner of Pike Ag at Marion; and Kevin Johnson, IFCA president.

“Thank you very much. Illinois is the state to be doing what I spent my career doing and this group is part of the reason for that. I appreciate all of the support that I’ve had,” Nafziger said.

“Illinois is my adopted state, but I’ve lived here over half my life and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

Leadership

“Every one of us has probably been touched by his expertise and his leadership. For the last 30 years he’s been at this convention and has spoken,” said Schaefer during the presentation. “He’s going to continue to help IFCA and to help John Pike and I to continue our work, too.

“Over the last 20 years that I’ve worked with Emerson on field research, I felt like I was his student. I was constantly learning from Emerson on how to do the projects, do them better, how to engage the farmer and those types of things. So, it’s been very important to me to be his student over the last 20 years.”

“My first job in the fertilizer business was in Piatt County in 1990. I listened to Emerson talk at a lot of meetings since I was close to Champaign,” Pike said.

“I moved on and worked in Extension for a number of years and then switched to the Crop Sciences Department, where I ran the Dixon Springs experiment station for a few years where Emerson was my boss. I’ve really enjoyed the things that I have learned from Emerson and all of the interactions that we’ve had from him.

“I thank Emerson for all of his help and support through the years. It’s been a pleasure to not only work with him, but also know him as a friend. To be able to know him a little bit deeper than the power point presentations has really been a pleasure.”