Why is Barry Bishop a 2018 Master Farmer? If you visit him, it doesn’t take very long to find out. He is a family man who runs a solid, productive, diversified farm while still finding time to serve his community, too.

If you never get a chance to meet Bishop in person, then you can learn about him from those who know him. Several people wrote letters of support for his nomination as a Master Farmer. As the Master Farmer judges find out each year, you can learn a lot about someone from what others say about that person, and how they say it. When people talk or write about Barry Bishop, it’s obvious the words are heartfelt.

Comments
• Great example for youth. “Having served on our county 4-H beef committee with [Barry] for several years, I can say without hesitation that he is a person of integrity whose only goal is that everyone is treated fairly. So often parents get caught up in the ego trip of what it takes for ‘my kid to win the county fair.’ Barry has always been a calming and stabilizing influence in the beef barn, setting the ideal example of what a 4-H parent should be. We have three daughters who exhibited alongside of, and competed against, his two daughters, and he has been a great role model and mentor for all the kids to look up to. He was always first to give a hug and heartfelt congratulations if you won and remained modest and humble if they did.” — Loran Wilson, Orleans, Ind.; 2011 Master Farmer; nominator of Barry Bishop

• An American family farmer. “I believe that Barry Bishop is the true embodiment of the American family farmer. Dedicated to his family and the farm, he is an honest man who is sincere in his love of agriculture and of the Orleans community. I have always had a great amount of respect for him. Barry is very worthy of this honor.” — Hank Carson, vocational-agriculture instructor and FFA advisor at Orleans High School since 1990

• Embodies the award. “The Master Farmer award has always been one of the ways agriculture in Indiana has recognized its leaders in production agriculture. In the process, it has done a great job of promoting the industry. The thing that has made the industry great are the great people that have made the industry.

“The gentleman that I would like to recommend for this year’s Master Farmer award could be used as a blueprint for persistence and determination. The main resources he had to start his career were not land and capital, but instead character, faith and courage.

“Barry Bishop is a testimony to what Will Rogers said about success: ‘You must know what you are doing, like what you are doing and believe in what you are doing.’ That pretty well defines a Master Farmer, and it sure defines Barry Bishop.” — Jim Gillooly, Washington, Ind.