The New Jersey Agricultural Society hosted its annual gala on March 28 at the Forsgate Country Club in Monroe and at the same time honored Hopewell Valley resident, James E. Johnson, with the Gold Medallion Award.
The Gold Medallion Award is presented to a person who has dedicated his or her life efforts to the agricultural industry.
Mr. Johnson’s agricultural affiliations and volunteer service to agricultural organizations are well known. He is a long time member of the New Jersey Agricultural Society and served on the Public Information Policy Committee. As member of the Lawrenceville Grange No. 170, the Mercer County Pomona Grange No. 5; the New Jersey State Grange and the National Grange, he has held a number of leadership positions.
He served as chairman of the Legislative Committee and Past Master of the Lawrenceville Grange. He was elected to 22 consecutive two-year terms on the Executive Committee of the New Jersey State Grange and served as the committee’s chairman as well. Throughout his membership in the New Jersey State Grange, he has worked to ensure policy coordination between the Grange, the New Jersey Farm Bureau and the New Jersey Department of Agriculture so that the three groups speak with one voice on behalf of the industry.
He devoted countless hours to the development of the New Jersey Museum of Agriculture and served as both trustee and first vice president. He received the Museum President’s Award for Service and was responsible for implementing the popular antique tractor and Amish quilt raffles.
Mr. Johnson is also a long-standing member of the New Jersey Farm Bureau where he now serves as convention coordinator; past president of the Princeton Agricultural Association; trustee of the Howell Living History Farm; a charter member of the New Jersey Soybean Industry Advisory Council; and a member of the Mercer County Board of Agriculture.
He is a recipient of the Mercer County Board of Agriculture’s Distinguished Service to New Jersey Agriculture Award, the State Grange award for 45 years on the Executive Committee, the Arthur West Award for Service to the New Jersey Farm Bureau, and the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award.
BORN AND RAISED ON THE FAMILY FARM near Pennington, Mr. Johnson was a manager at the Farmers’ Cooperative Association of New Jersey from 1946 until 1975 when he became manager of Farmers’ Brokerage and Supply, retiring in 1987. During his tenure with Farmers’ Brokerage and Supply, he instituted instant receipt of Chicago Board of Trade quotes via satellite dish receiver and made sure that grain bids were broadcast on radio and available by telephone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In Hopewell Valley, Mr. Johnson also found time to serve his community — as a member of the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education, for which he received their Award for Service; the Hopewell Township Republican Committee; as a trustee of the Harbourton Cemetery Association; as a member of the Pleasant Valley Vigilant Association and the Jacobs Creek Gun Club. He also served in the U.S. Army 8th Air Force from 1943-1945.
Mr. Johnson and his wife Mardella have a son, James, daughter-in-law, Kathleen and granddaughter, Julia.
The New Jersey Agricultural Society is a 501(c) 3 non-profit dedicated to preserving and enhancing agriculture, farming and related activities and businesses in New Jersey through educational, informational, and promotional programs.
