Sec’y. Redding Receives Society’s Gold Medal

Sec’y. Redding Receives Society’s Gold Medal

Russell Redding Receives Gold Medal for Distinguished Service from the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture Pennsylvania Farm Show, Harrisburg, PA – Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding was presented with the Gold Medal for Distinguished Service on January 12 by the nation’s oldest agricultural organization, the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture (PSPA).

“If we are to sustainably feed a growing world, it is critically important that we have strong, dynamic leadership,” said PSPA President Richard O’Donnell in presenting the medal. “Not only does Russell Redding understand that, he is leading by example,” he said.

O’Donnell cited Redding’s remarkable journey from milking cows on his family farm to leading Pennsylvania’s vibrant agricultural sector. “At every stage of his career, Russell has proven to be an effective leader – whether as a dairyman, as a policy advisor, in senior positions at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, as Dean of the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at Delaware Valley University, or in his role as Pennsylvania’s 26th Secretary of Agriculture,” he said.

Redding has extensive experience as a public servant, having spent more than 20 years serving Pennsylvania in Harrisburg and Washington D.C.  He worked on Capitol Hill as Ag Policy Advisor to U.S. Senator Harris Wofford and served for 16 years in the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, first serving as Secretary of Agriculture from 2009-2011 under Governor Rendell. Among his many duties, he serves as Chair of the USDA Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture.

Organized in 1785, the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture presents its Gold Medal to leaders it deems to have made a difference in sustainably feeding the world. The Society has played key roles in developing many of the farming methods and institutions responsible for the abundance that is the hallmark of our modern food system. Practices now commonplace – such as crop rotation and management of soil fertility – have their roots in the robust dialogue and exploration of change that have marked the Society’s meetings and publication activities from its origins to the present day.

In addition to hands-on farming, the Society’s influence led to the establishment of important research and educational institutions, not least of which are Pennsylvania State University, the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the United States Department of Agriculture which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2012. To learn more, visit the Society’s web site at http://pspaonline.com/