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Howard earned all three college degrees from The Ohio State University, then
joined the faculty as an Extension Farm Management Specialist in 1968. He and
40 colleagues started the first Purdue Top Farmer Crop Workshop. He helped
develop the machinery and tillage budgets and initiated the idea of farmers
using the workshop's linear program computer budget to test four kinds of changes:
crop mix, machinery size, tillage system, and farm size. He coordinated 250
Top Farmer Workshops on three continents helping 7,000 farmers interpret 25,000
farm budgets. He presented his 7-minute machinery economics speech emphasizing
timeliness, use of big machinery, test before you invest, and associating with
positive thinking people 900 times in seven countries. He helped create three
27-minute movies sponsored by Allis Chalmers, John Deere, and International
Harvester. At the 2000 Top Farmer Workshop, Howard and 40 colleagues hosted
a record number of farmers from 13 states.
Recognizing the influence of farm magazine writers, Howard set a goal of helping
to write a national or regional article each month. Howard co-authored extension
and research articles with 43 university colleagues, including annual crop
budgets and influential papers on land rent, tillage economics and no-till
long before it was generally accepted. He prepared input price prospects for
the department's annual Outlook program. In 1983, he authored a paper where
the term "site-specific farming" was first used.
Howard taught six classes, including a senior class, "How to Go Home
and Start Farming with Dad." He co-authored three high school texts on
entrepreneurship. He created and coordinated 20 annual Farming Together Workshops,
coordinated
the farm records program and the state farm management tour, was Purdue chapter
co-founder and president of Gamma Sigma Delta, and was advisor for Alpha Zeta.
He was a senior faculty fellow at Shreve Hall and coached the 1983 Purdue women's
softball team to its best ever record. He was honored as a Kentucky Colonel
for helping start the Kentucky Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers
and Rural Appraisers while serving as secretary of the Indiana Chapter. He
earned titles of Accredited Farm Manager and Accredited Agricultural Consultant
from the American Society. In 1992 he received the Indiana Extension Specialist
Career Award.
With his wife Barbara, former Director of Undergraduate Programs in Purdue's
School of Management, he helped their four children and spouses attend 24
colleges and earn 15 degrees, including seven from Purdue. One son was
recognized as
a Distinguished Purdue Agricultural Alumnus.
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