Primghar, Iowa, July 25, 2023 – The O’Brien County Value Added Ag (VAA) Steering Committee has recognized an outstanding citizen with their annual Value Added Ag Hall of Fame Award since 2001. A business category was added in 2016 and from that time on, both an individual and a business have been recognized each year with this award.
The O’Brien County VAA Steering Committee presented their 2023 Ag Hall of Fame awards on July 24 the at the O’Brien County Fair. Mr. Dudley McDowell of rural Archer was honored as the 2023 recipient of the Value Added Ag Hall of Fame Award and the Archer Cooperative Grain Company of Archer was recognized as the business recipient of the Value Added Ag Hall of Fame Award.
According to the Ag Steering Committee, the successful candidate for this award must have demonstrated leadership, stewardship, community service and service to the agricultural industry. They must also be an O’Brien County resident or someone who engages in agricultural activity in the county.
Dudley McDowell recently retired after fifty years as a livestock and crop farmer in O’Brien County and continues to assist his daughter and son-in-law in operating the Century Farm. Over the years, Mr. McDowell’s farming operation included corn and soybeans, a farrow to finish hog operation and a sheep flock and he has shown hogs at the O’Brien County Fair, the Clay
County Fair and the Iowa State Fair. Dudley McDowell has been a very active member of his community. He has served on the Archer Ambulance Service as an EMT and a scheduler and is a long time member of the Archer Fire Department. Dudley was an adult leader of the Eagle Musketeers 4-H Club for many years and has been on the O’Brien County Fair Board and served as sheep superintendent for many years. He has been an O’Brien County Farm Bureau member since he began farming, serving on the board of directors, serving as board president and as a voting delegate. Mr. McDowell served terms on the Archer Cooperative Grain Company board and Cooperative Oil board in Sheldon. Dudley is currently serving on the Prairie View Campus board of directors. Family and church are a central part of Mr. McDowell’s life. Dudley has served as lay leader and treasurer, on the Lord’s Acre Committee and most other committees over the years at Archer