Haldor Howard - Reliability
Personified
On September
27th the Oklahoma Greenhouse Growers Association bestowed upon
one of it's most faithful and reliable members the coveted
Greenhouse Grower of the Year Award. Haldor Howard was
nominated for his outstanding work as a grower, educator and for
his many years of support and hard work for the association.
Haldor has over 25
years experience growing and maintaining plants. He has a
Bachelor's in Science degree from the University of Oklahoma and
an Associate of Science degree in Horticulture from O.S.U. - OKC. Since
1987 Haldor has been a grounds manager, greenhouse manager,
instructor, researcher and plant trials judge while working for
O.S.U. - OKC. He advanced from campus grounds keeper to grounds
manager, then he became manager over the horticulture center
greenhouses, gardens and grounds. He did such a good job with
each new responsibility they just kept giving him more titles
and more to do!
Haldor Howards' efforts
as the greenhouse manager were the basis for the award
nomination. For 13 years he has managed a diverse and at times
very difficult crop schedule in order to accommodate the
numerous horticulture courses being taught by instructors in the
department. The goal was always to expose students to real
world production practices and results. On top of planning and
producing crops for classes, Haldor was also responsible for
growing hundreds of varieties of All American Selections trial
plants each year. Each semester he has had to Integrate trial
varieties and the various class crops along with cash crops
which are also an important part of keeping the facility funded
for ongoing class use.
Haldor has been on
the board of OGGa for at least ten years and served as chairman
of several committees and ultimately as president of the
association in 2004 and 2005. His annual efforts on the summer
short course have resulted in many outstanding programs which as
a result have promoted the healthy growth of virtually every
greenhouse company in Oklahoma. We are very grateful for Haldor
Howard's efforts and congratulate him for being selected as this
years Greenhouse Grower of the Year!
