Richard Johnson, managing director of John Deere Ltd, has been presented with the Michael Dwyer Memorial Prize at the Landwards Conference held on 7 May 2009 at the Royal Agricultural College Cirencester.
The Award, part of the annual Awards announced by the Institution of Agricultural Engineers (IAgrE), was in recognition of his continuing role establishing John Deere as one of the UK’s agricultural and groundscare suppliers. A one-company man, Richard, was one of the first to benefit from a Work Placement Scheme when he joined John Deere from Harper Adams in 1987. Since then he has held prominent positions within the company, culminating in being appointed Managing Director in 2006.
Four experienced and long-standing members of the agricultural machinery industry were honoured with IAgrE Awards. They were Bob Pringle, for his work in the field of potato storage and systems; Don Macmillan, who was John Deere’s first UK dealer and who has since written several best-selling books on the history of the brand; Frank Moore, former sales director of Rotary Hoes Ltd who went on to design the Moore Mower, and Philip Wright, former technical director of Simba International who won a host of awards for his design of cultivation equipment.
Long standing stalwart of ADAS (Agricultural Development and Advisory Service), Brian Finney was awarded the IAgrE Award of Merit for 2009, whilst Peter Redman, the Technical Consultant to the Douglas Bomford Trust was awarded with an IAgrE Honorary Fellowship..
Former Harper Adams student, Llion Wyn Davies, who has since returned to work on the family farm near Cardigan, was awarded the Johnson New Holland Trophy for his college project relating to reducing the in-field turning circle of a JCB tractor, whilst Professor Dick Godwin and Dirk Ansorge of Claas were Douglas Bomford Paper Award winners for their research papers on the effect of tyres and tracks at high axle loads on soil compaction.
Finally the IAgrE Branch Meritorious Award went to David Wilks of the East Midland Branch
