Two veteran agricultural consultants have been inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Mississippi Agricultural Consultants Association.

Mills Rogers, Rogers Entomological Services, Cleveland, and Jimmy B. Walker, Walker Agricultural Services, Inc., Rolling Fork, were honored at the organization’s annual meeting at Mississippi State University.

“This is the highest, most prestigious award any member can obtain,” said Bob Stonestreet, Clarksdale consultant, who made the presentation. “These two men have distinguished themselves by their dedication, perseverance, integrity, and their achievements and contributions to the field of entomology and our association.”

Rogers, a graduate of Delta State University, began his college career on a musical scholarship, but was offered a freshman laboratory assistantship in general zoology, which he continued until graduation.

After graduation and marriage to his college sweetheart, Patricia Williams, he decided to enter the field of medicine, but instead was drafted into the Army Medical Corps. At the end of the Korean War he returned to Cleveland and worked for California Spray Chemical; it was through that work that he became interested in entomology and went on to earn a master’s degree in the field at Mississippi State University.

He started Rogers Entomological Services in 1957, which he and, later, his son Lee operated until Mills’ retirement.

“Mills Rogers has had a joyful, rewarding career, and has been awarded many honors in his profession,” Stonestreet said, “but the one of which he is most proud is being a charter member of Mississippi Agricultural Consultants Association and serving as its second president in 1975.”

He also served as president of the Mississippi Entomological Association and the NEA, and in 2002 was awarded the Outstanding Consultant Award by the National Association of Independent Crop Consultants.

Mills and Patricia have four children, Lorna Steele, Renee Reshard, Camille Burns, and Lee Rogers.

Jimmy B. Walker, a lifelong resident of Rolling Fork, is a graduate of Southwest Mississippi Community College and Mississippi State University, where he earned a degree in agricultural education.

He returned home, married Anne Branch in 1957, was a mathematics and science teacher at Hollandale and served in the Mississippi National Guard before founding Walker Agricultural Services, Inc. in 1962, serving a total of 39 years as a private agricultural consultant.

“He is considered a pioneer in the field of liquid fertilizer,” Stonestreet noted, “and Walker Ag became a primary source for fertilizer and agricultural consulting in the lower Mississippi Delta.”

The company was sold to Tri-State Delta Chemical Company in 1998 and Walker served as manager of that operation until his retirement in 2005.

He was involved in the formation of the National Association of Independent Crop Consultants and a charter member of that organization. He also served on the boards of the National Fertilizer Association, the Agricultural Retailers Association, and the Bank of Anguilla, currently serving as board advisor.

He and his wife have one daughter, Suzanne Walker Smith, and two grandchildren, Benjamin and Mary-Hannah.

Scholarship award

Jenny Bibb, Indianola, Miss., was named recipient of the organization’s 2012 scholarship award.

“She has excelled in her agricultural studies and we expect great things from her in the future,” said Bill Pellum, Clarksdale consultant, who presented the award.

Bibb is a graduate of Hinds Community College and earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural sciences at Mississippi State University, where she is now enrolled in the master’s program.

“Jenny has a background in both animal sciences and plant sciences,” Pellum said. “She has worked as a veterinary assistant and at the Brown Loam Experiment Station she collected data on cattle and forages and conducted research on cattle production.

“She recently has turned her interest to row crops and has been rearing colonies of soybean loopers and tarnished plant bugs, as well as collecting data on crop projects.

“She has been working with Associate Entomology Professor Angus Catchot and Assistant Research Professor Don Cook and her master’s project is analyzing the effects of corn earworms on yield and grain quality of field corn.”