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Cox Wins Young Farmer Achievement Award, Heading to AFBF Competition
Editor's Note: Dorn Cox is a two-time NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant
awardee. Cox has completed his 2006 grant for Farm-based Biofuel: Production,
Storage, Co-generation and Education. His 2007 Self Contained Oilseed Processing
System and Educational Initiative grant is in progress. Cox recently spoke about
renewable energy on the farm at the 2007 New England Fruit and Vegetable
Conference in Manchester.
By:
Sabrina Matteson
New Hampshire Farm Bureau
Originally published in
The Communicator, Winter 2007.
N ew
Hampshire Farm Bureau annually conducts a Young Farmers Achievement Award
competition to recognize the efforts of Young Farmers in production agriculture
and leadership achievement. This year the winner of the award is Dorn Cox of
Tuckaway Farm in Lee, NH.
The ideal candidate for the Achievement Award is an individual or couple
involved in production agriculture with a majority of their income subject to
normal production risks, and with Farm Bureau and community participation and leadership. This
year six county Farm Bureaus honored Young Farmers from their county by
submitting nominations for this award.
 Dodge
sponsors the Young Farmer Awards and provides the winners of each of the state
competitions with a $500 cash award. The state Achievement Award winner will
then be sent on by New Hampshire Farm Bureau to compete in the national event at
the American Farm Bureau Convention in New Orleans in January. The contestant
named the National Achievement Award winner receives a new Dodge Ram 3500 SLT
Quad Cab 4x4 pickup truck with a 5.9L Cummins HO Turbo Diesel engine.
Kubota Tractor Corporation and Pinnacleview Equipment in Walpole also support
the Achievement Award by providing the winner with a Kubota M Series Utility
Tractor (44-98 horse power) for six months or 300 hours. Mike Snide of
Pinnacleview Equipment attended the banquet at the Farm Bureau Annual Meeting in
Rindge to present a toy tractor to the winner of the award.
Dorn Cox, nominated by the Strafford County Farm Bureau, has placed his farm’s
emphasis on developing on-farm energy solutions. Dorn said that the goal of his
operation is to reduce production costs as much as possible by eliminating
off-farm inputs, including processed feed, antibiotics, fuel, fertilizer and
amendments. This goal is well on its way with the infrastructure already built
to provide all the fuel processing needs for the farm, and with the recovery of
organic material through composting of manure recovered from hay customers.
The goal of providing his own high quality processed feed is close to being
achieved with the first nutritional test results showing that sunflower
pressings store without any spoilage and according to UNH nutritional experts
provide an 18% protein feed that can be fed as a 1/3 ration for ruminants and a
larger percentage for poultry and hogs.
Tuckaway Farm has three main parts: custom machine work, crop and agricultural
technology
research and
development, and livestock and crop production. Dorn has 18 cows, some polo
ponies, hogs, donkeys,
goats, chickens and game birds. Combined with ongoing horse related activities
(polo, fox hunting, and therapeutic training) on the farm, a strong market base
for selling the diverse farm products is being built into the infrastructure.
The farm is growing sunflower in visible areas, not only for feed and fuel, but
as a core piece of the marketing strategy. Dorn raises high oil sunflower,
potatoes, winter rye, canola, camalina, and mustard in test plots in conjunction
with UNH research farms.
Dorn built a farm shop to enable him to perform all repairs and maintenance on
equipment on the farm. He built a crushing and processing facility for oil-seed
crops and the farm produced its own biodiesel fuel last year. Dorn serves as the
Strafford County representative on the Young Farmer Committee and as a voting delegate for
the Policy Development process, chaired the Young Farmer Legislative Breakfast the past
two years, hosted the Farm Bureau summer picnic, went to Washington, DC last March for the Farm
Bureau
Lobbying trip and was the 2006 State Discussion Meet winner. Dorn also
participates as a member of the NorthEast Oil Seed Research Association, Oyster
River Biofuel Initiative, State University Biodiesel Group and as a board member
for GreenStart.
Dorn would like to see a revitalized agricultural image in the state that makes
the industry worthy of attention and investment – and makes the Environment and
Agricultural Committee one of the most sought after appointments.
By:
Sabrina Matteson
New Hampshire Farm Bureau
Originally published in
The Communicator, Winter 2007.
Related
Article:
Cox partners with Elayne’s Garden Organics
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