Three Purdue Extension educators were selected as award winners with the National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA). The awards were presented in August at the NACCA annual meeting and professional improvement conference.
Molley Hasenour, Achievement Award winner
Molley Hasenour, Purdue Extension – Crawford County agriculture and natural resources and Indiana 4-H youth development educator, won the 2023 NACAA Achievement award. The award recognizes excellence in the field of professional Extension for members with less than 10 years of service.
Hasenour serves on the Purdue Artificial Insemination School team, which hosts school annually with Select Sires. She organized the 2022 Southern Indiana Area Cattleman’s Beef Tour, a multi-county educational event with over 300 participants, and assisted with teaching Purdue Beef Basics, an eight-week virtual program series for those beginning in beef cattle production.
As a 4-H educator, Hasenour provides animal science and general agriculture education to youth. She collaborated with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to host the Junior Indiana Master Naturalist Program, which provides hands-on experiences in soil and water conservation. Hasenour has also established multiple raised garden beds at a local elementary school and provided students with nutritional education in partnership with the Purdue Extension Nutrition Education Program and Purdue Extension Health and Human Sciences.
Bryan Overstreet, Distinguished Service Award winner
Bryan Overstreet, Purdue Extension/ Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative (CCSI) conservation agronomist for northern Indiana, was presented the 2023 NACCA Distinguished Service award. The award recognizes excellence in the field of professional Extension for members with more than 10 years of service.
Overstreet has been a member of NACAA for 18 years and was awarded the NACCA Achievement Award in 2011. He has served several roles in the Indiana Extension Educators Association as past president of the organization.
Bryan served almost 18 years as the Jasper County agriculture and natural resources educator before he took his current role as conservation agronomist for northern Indiana. Through his role at Purdue Extension, Overstreet has developed and led a comprehensive set of field crop production programs including field days, Private Pesticide Applicator Recertification Programs and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle certification trainings. He is a member of the Purdue Extension Farm Stress team that works with farmers and mental health workers in Indiana. He has helped farm families with succession planning by hosting of Annie’s Project five times. Overstreet also teaches Pork Quality Assurance and Youth for the Quality Care of Animals in Jasper and surrounding counties.
Overstreet is the vice president of the North American Manure Expo Board, and was selected as the Indiana Certified Crop Advisor of the year in 2018.
James Wolff, Achievement Award winner
James Wolff, Purdue Extension – Allen County director and agriculture and natural resources educator, won the 2023 NACAA Achievement award.
Wolff specializes in diversified farming and food systems with leadership roles at the Indiana Small Farm Conference and in the Purdue Extension Beginning Farmer program. His team also created the Purdue Farmers Market Certificate. Wolff maintains a partnership with the City of Fort Wayne to operate Johnnie Mae farm, a place that provides a safe space, education and affordable produce in the community. He oversees the Johnnie Mae farm production of fresh, healthy produce sold at a weekly market for the neighborhood.
Wolff is licensed to teach Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) classes to help farmers understand how to legally fly UAVs and use them to manage crops. Through a partnership with the Northeast Indiana Local Food Network, he helps farmers capture aerial imagery that is used for educational videos to teach third-grade classes about fruit and vegetable production. Eighteen local schools are using these videos with other farm-to-school education materials.
He is an Indiana Extension Educators Association member and has served as the agriculture and natural resources section chair. Wolff was a member of the Indiana Small Farm Conference Team awarded the Purdue University College of Agriculture TEAM award in 2019.
