03/03/1997

Three Alabama Ag Leaders Inducted into AU Agriculture Hall of Honor

AUBURN, Ala. - Milton A. "Buzz" Wendland, a cotton and cattle farmer from Autaugaville; John Livingston, a pioneer in Alabama's poultry industry; and Aubrey Smith, long time head of Auburn's Black Belt Substation in Marion Junction recently became the 37th, 38th and 39th inductees into the Auburn University Agricultural Alumni Association Hall of Honor.

Each year three distinguished leaders in Alabama's agricultural industry are selected for inclusion in the elite group. Hall of Honor members include the late state legislator Red Bamburg, Progressive Farmer publisher and AU Board of Trustees member Emory Cunningham and former executive director of the Alabama Cattleman's Association, the late Ham Wilson.

Wendland, who was born and raised on a small farm near Randolph, Kan., first came to Alabama while serving in the U.S. Air Force. While here, he met and later married the former Dianne Smith of Prattville. After serving a distinguished career in the Air Force, Wendland started a farming operation in Autaugaville in 1960, which has grown to three farms and a diversified business operation.

Though Wendland earned a bachelor's degree in animal husbandry from Kansas State University, he credits most of his success in farming to his father-in-law, Will Howard Smith. "Mr. Smith was a role model that I, and many other farmers in this area, looked up to. He was a great leader and played a key role in my starting a farming operation in Alabama," Wendland said.

Since he began his farming career in 1960, Wendland has contributed countless hours of service to various professional agricultural activities. He was selected Cotton Farmer of the Year and Man of the Year in Service to Agriculture by distinguished magazines and continues today in his diligent efforts to put more back into his profession than he takes from it.

John Livingston literally started the poultry business in Alabama. He bought, processed and sold the first batch of 600 chickens sold commercially in the state. Armed with a little over $20,000, no equipment and no employees, he began his task in 1948 at one of two poultry cooperatives set up by the state and the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service.

Livingston began his career with the USDA, shortly after earning a bachelor's degree in agricultural administration from Auburn University. He worked for a brief time prior to World War II as an assistant county Agent in Morgan County.

During the war, Livingston served in the early years aboard an oil tanker and later in the war on an attack transport. While serving in the war effort, he married Virginia Carpenter in 1944. During his service in World War II, Livingston participated in several of the key battles that turned the tide in the Pacific theater of war.

Upon returning from the Navy, Livingston resumed his job with the Extension Service in Decatur. In 1948, the state and the Extension Service combined to set up poultry cooperatives in Montgomery and Albertville. Livingston was selected to head the Albertville Cooperative. With no facilities, little money and no employees, he set up the first poultry processing line in Alabama. A major early problem was lack of chickens, so he advertised on the radio for chickens. By 1957, the cooperative was producing several thousand birds a day.

In the early 1960s, the cooperative lost its tax-free status and was ultimately bought by Wayne Feed Company. The newly established Wayne Poultry Company retained Livingston, and he served as president of the company until his retirement in 1982. During his career in the poultry industry, Livingston helped establish the Alabama Poultry and Egg Association and served as its president. He remains active in civic clubs and the Boy Scouts of America.

Aubrey Smith grew up on a farm in Elmore County and finished high school there in 1939. By 1942 he had completed a degree in agricultural science from Auburn University, taking time out in 1941 to marry his high school sweetheart, Evelyn McQueen. During World War II, Smith narrowly avoided capture in the early hours of the Battle of the Bulge. He escaped and made his way to Bastogne, where he fought in the heroic battle that doomed the German army in western Europe.

Upon his return from World War II, Smith resumed his job with the Soil Conservation Service, working in Dallas, Montgomery and Talladega counties. In 1951, he was named assistant superintendent of the Black Belt Substation, a research unit of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station at Auburn University. In 1958, he was promoted to superintendent and remained in that position until his retirement from Auburn University in 1985.

During his tenure at the Black Belt Substation, Smith helped develop the AU facility into a world-renowned center for beef cattle genetics and hay management research. His keen observation led to the discovery of fescue toxicity, and subsequently many management practices to overcome it, saving Alabama cattle producers millions of dollars. Pioneering beef cattle crossbreeding programs provided the basis for many of the crossbreed systems currently used by cattle producers.

Smith was instrumental in establishment of the AU Agricultural Alumni Association and is a past president of the organization. As have each of the three inductees, Smith has won many state, regional and national honors.

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News from:

Office of Ag Communications & Marketing

Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)

Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu
by Roy Roberson

03/03/97