Tifton Campus: News & Events
Crawford named to Georgia Ag Hall of Fame
October 6, 2009 — The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences inducted Johnny Crawford into the Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Athens Sept. 25. Crawford was a charter member of the UGA Cooperative Extension Cotton Team and head of the university's Extension plant pathology department and is president of South Central Gin Company.
 |
| Cecil Spooner (left), president of the UGA CAES Alumni Association Executive Committee, and CAES Dean and Director Scott Angle (right) are shown congratulating Johnny Crawford (center) on being named to the Georgia Agricultural Hall of Fame. |
Born into a Grady County farm family, Crawford earned an associate's degree from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. He also earned bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees from UGA with the help of a National Cotton Council Cotton Foundation Fellowship.
Crawford joined the UGA faculty first as a UGA Extension plant pathologist on the Tifton campus working on cotton. He later became an Extension agronomist working on cotton and in the early 1990's he was named head of the Extension plant pathology department.
Recognizing cotton's potential in Georgia, Crawford cooperated with researchers, county agents and farmers to implement effective production methods. His work with nematode control, irrigation, variety selection and crop management laid the foundation for a rebound in Georgia cotton production, from a low of 100,000 acres in the 70's to over a million acres every year since '95.
As an Extension specialist, Crawford conducted more than 1,200 educational meetings, published 134 research and extension reports, co-authored two books and wrote more than 400 Extension publications, articles and circular letters.
In addition to the hall of fame honors, Crawford has received the Distinguish Service Award from the National Association of County Agricultural Agents and was twice awarded the Public Service Medal. He was appointed D. W. Brooks Distinguished Professor of Agronomy by the UGA CAES, received the Beltwide Cotton Extension Award from the Cotton Foundation and the Lifetime Achievement Hall of Fame Award from the Georgia Crop Protection Alliance.
Now retired, Crawford remains active in agriculture as a cotton farmer and president and general manager of South Central Georgia Gin Company. He serves on the board of the UGA Athletic Association and UGA Extension Retiree Association and is a member of the UGA President's Club. He also supports the CAES Eterna Fund and volunteers for the CAES Alumni Association for which he was president in 2007.
Crawford is a deacon and Bible teacher at Northside Baptist Church in Tifton. He and wife Yvonne live in Chula and have three children and eight grandchildren.
(News release written by Sharon Dowdy, a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)