Andrew Wargo, Watson, Ark., is a dedicated advocate of ag and has now been recognized twice in 2021 for his contribution to the agricultural community in Arkansas. 

Earlier this year it was announced that he would be inducted into the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame. That full recognition will come at the March 4, 2022 Hall of Fame luncheon in Little Rock. The luncheon was moved from August 2021, when COVID restrictions were put back into place in Arkansas. 

The second recognition was an Outstanding Alumnus Award from Arkansas State University College of Agriculture, which was presented to him during the Ag Day celebration at ASU on Sept. 11. 

In 2019 Wargo celebrated 50 years as farm manager for Baxter Land, Co., in Dermott, Ark. He went to work for Bill Baxter after earning his degree from Arkansas State University and working for a time at the University of Mississippi. Baxter tapped Wargo for the position of farm manager while Wargo was teaching ag at Desha Central High School in Rohwer, Ark. 

During his time managing the farm for Bill Baxter, Wargo helped modernize the operation. He oversaw the move to more targeted pest chemistries and conservation tillage.  

Those practices eventually led to him being elected to the Conservation Hall of Fame in 2016 and receiving the Outstanding Conservationist Award at the Arkansas Soil and Water Education Conference in 2020.  

In addition to row crops the Baxters and Wargo built a catfish operation and cotton gin. 

Conservation

Wargo worked with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to raise awareness of herbicide resistant weeds and helped establish a program to specifically address the issue. While president of the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts he worked with others in the Midsouth to design a training program that eventually qualified 100 crop consultants to write farm plans that led to NRCS funding to fight the herbicide-resistant weed problem. 

Five others will be inducted into the hall of fame on March 4 including retired Cooperative Extension Service Director Rick Cartwright of Fayetteville; long-time ag educator Joe Don Greenwood of Hermitage; the late Russell Roy Reynolds, the director of the U.S. Forest Service Crossett Experimental Forest for 34 years; former Arkansas Farm Bureau President Randy Veach of Manila; and Mark Waldrip of Moro, founder of Armor Seed Company. 

On Sept. 11, Arkansas State University College of Ag also recognized outstanding alumni Craid Walker, Jr., Donald Kennedy, Mike Gibson, Randall Pope and Seth Dewitt.