Rob:  Well in Oklahoma, every achievement made in agriculture is built upon a proud farming and ranching heritage; which is why, each year the Governor inducts a long-time leader in the industry into the Agricultural Hall of Fame.  Today, we introduce you to a gentleman who has traveled the world in support of his fellow farmers.
Rob:  It really does run in the family.  Elmore Bathhurst passing down equipment he earned, and a love for land he could only be given.
Elmore Bathhurst:  I had lots of good experiences in my day.  Farming has been good to us.  We’ve got all our land paid for, and we have a few savings.  And by the way, the wife and I will have been married 59 years, the day after Christmas.
Charlene Bathhurst:  He was born and raised in Oklahoma, never lived any place else.
Rob:  Experiencing a life that seldom was easy.
Bathhurst:  I remember the Great Depression; I was born in 1925.  Once in a while, a man would come along and want to sleep in the barn, and we would let him do that, and that sort of thing.  My brother and I farmed in the panhandle, back in the 40s.  He’d look after five tractors in the daytime, and I’d run two of them at night.  Those were great days.
Rob:  Fourteen hour days that have turned into over sixty years for the eighty-four year old.
Bathhurst:  I’ve been thoroughly satisfied with the farming, ranching business in my lifetime.  I will say it’s work though.
Charlene Bathhurst:  He’s Mr. Wheat.  He’s been Mr. Wheat ever since I’ve known him.
Bathhurst:  Everybody has to eat.  There’s nothing like the taste of a homegrown tomato.  The one’s you get out of the store kind of taste like eating cardboard.
Rob:  And he’ll never forget the day a prominent businessman stopped him as a young man and said.
Bathhurst:  I want to tell you something.  Don’t spend all your time looking at the radiator cap of a John Deere tractor.  Spend about a good portion of your time in the political arena.  I thought that was some of the best advice I ever had.
Rob:  Elmore got involved, holding key positions in over a dozen state and national agricultural organizations over the next three decades.  It started by breaking new ground, working to pass legislation to establish Oklahoma’s Wheat Commission in 1963.
Bathhurst:  I testified in both the House and the Senate Ag Committees, down there, in regard to the need of a wheat commission.
Rob:  Elmore would go on to serve as chairman of the board, and spread Oklahoma agriculture around the world as part of a U S wheat trade team.
Bathhurst:  India for example, that year was starving.  And we supplied them with a hundred million bushels of grain that year.
Rob:  Talking with world leaders, advancing nearly every aspect of American agriculture.
Bathhurst:  We were gone six weeks on that tour; and I will say one thing, I wish every wheat farmer could get the experience we had.
Rob:  A wheat ambassador, promoting agriculture, on every continent except Antartica.
Charlene Bathhurst:  He loves to travel.  He would still travel today, if his legs would let him.
Bathhurst:  It costs you money.  But I will say, that’s one of the best education’s you’ll get, too.
Rob:  A wheat farmer that says he took his cue from industry, and helped make history in the process.
Bathhurst:  We have established world markets through our market development organizations.  We’ve got to be right in there all the time, otherwise other countries will take it away from us.
Rob:  Elmore Bathhurst, this year’s winner of the Governor’s Outstanding Achievement Award in Agriculture.
Bathhurst:  That’s my life.  That’s where I made my living, and it’s been, I will say, we’ve of course had our ups and downs in agriculture through the years, but overall, it’s been great.