Ag Hall of Fame

	Ag Hall of Fame The Moses Lake Area Agriculture Hall of Fame was formed in the Year 2010 to recognize and honor distinguished individuals that have made significant contributions to the agricultural community in the Greater Moses Lake Area. Nominees from Grant County will be considered for this prestigous award. The Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce has proudly created a Agriculture Hall of Fame Selection Committee that is comprised of quality individual representatives of our agriculture industry and has chartered them with the honorable task of reviewing all nomination submittals. To date, five individuals have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Induction candidates are selected based on their contributions to the industry and their support of their community. Candidates are recognized by their peers for not only their dedication, generosity, and selflessness, but also their demonstrated achievements, noteworthy expertise, and creative innovations that often provide a legacy of impactful results and lasting benefit to the overall enhancement of the local agricultural industry and community at large. Farmers, growers, ranchers, and owners/employees of agribusiness firms are all eligible for nomination as either indivuduals and/or families.
	Upcoming Presentation: The Ag Hall of Fame inductions will be presented at the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet on October, 16, 2012 at Pillar Rock Grill at the Moses Lake Golf Club. To Nominate download form and return to Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce.

Allen Sircin: Originally from Nebraska, Allen started out dirt-poor, hoboed his way west, and grew both a ranch and a family in Homedale, Idaho. By the time he passed away in 1996, Allen Sircin was one of the most respected cattlemen in central Washington. Allen came to the Columbia Basin in 1956, as the Columbia Basin Project was getting started. He saw the benefits irrigation was bringing to farmers in the Basin, and felt that there really ought to be some cattle here as well. In 1958, Allen and his wife Wilma established the first feedlot between Moses Lake and Warden, calling it the A & W Feedlot (not affiliated with A&W Root Beer). Fourteen years later, they sold the feedlot to Agri Beef. Today it's still thriving as El Oro feedlot. Allen was the wort of man you hear about but seldom actually encounter: an honest one. He made a big difference for the potato processing plants as well, by taking their potato by-products off their hands and using them as cattle feed.
Alice Parker: Without water, the Columbia Basin would be just another stretch of rock, dust and sagebrush. That it's actually one of America's leading agricultural regions is due to the Columbia Basin Project. And the Columbia Basin Project owes a great deal to Alice Parker. Alice came with her husband and three children from Colorado to the Royal City in 1965. Alice has been involved with the Columbia Basin Development League since 1992. During her time with the CBDL, Alice has fought tooth and nail for our farmers. During the moratorium years, when the state and federal governments imposed a moratorium on new withdrawals from the Columbia River, Alice held the CBDL together: organizing meetings, building membership and being a beacon of hope until the moratorium was lifted in 2003. Alice took another role in farming as well, as an early organizer of Women Involved in Farm Economics. She served as the state president from 1978-79, and national president from 1988-1989. Alice is just as passionate about agriculture today as she was years ago. She knows that a good safe food supply is one of the most important things in our country.
Paul Hirai: Paul Hirai was born in Toppenish and lived on his father’s farm in the 1930s until his family was forced to leave the land by the U.S. government once war was declared on Japan. Authorities relocated the Hirai family to work on a sugar beet farm in Oregon. At just 16 years old, Paul made the decision to help his family regain their crops all while continuing his education. He rented a 16 acre crop and began growing onions. Eventually he expanded his crop to 80 acres. His wife, Virginia “Ginny” was born in Seattle in 1932 but was raised in Japan as her family wished her to receive a Japanese education. After the war, she decided to move back to the United States. She lived in Seattle, where she attended school. Ginny met Paul when she would travel to see her sister in Oregon. Her sister married Paul’s brother. Paul would visit Ginny in Seattle when he attended National Guard training. Paul and Ginny married in 1955 and continued farming in Oregon where they had a 1,000 acre crop. Eventually Paul met Harry Masto and the two became friends. Harry would often encourage Paul to move his operation to Moses Lake to save on operation costs and to become his business partner.
Ken Goodrich: You can't drive very far in the Columbia Basin without seeing concrete irrigation ditches everywhere. They're the circulatory system of the Columbia Basin Project, moving water from reservoirs to fields in a vast network. And much of their efficiency can be traced to Kenneth Goodrich. Back when the project was first laid out, the irrigation ditches were just grooves in the dirt. The trouble with those was the the dirt moved right along with the water. Planting grass on the banks went a little way in controlling the erosion, but it didn't solve the whole problem. Like so many innovators, Ken Goodrich looked at the problem and saw a solution that seems obvious in retrospect: line the ditches with concrete. It was a workable solution, but not an easy one to accomplish. He started pouring ditches in 1956 and by 1989 had poured a little over 285 miles of concrete. It took a lot of years and a lot of concrete, but Kenneth's contribution to irrigation in the Basin is still going strong today.
Harry Mastro: Harry and his wife Masie moved to Moses Lake in 1952 and soon began farming once the Coulee Dam project brought irrigation water to their farm. Harry farmed onions and sugar beets and owned a produce warehouse called Harry Masto Produce. “My father was a grower but he was also a gambler,” his daughter Sherrie stated. “He used to say, ‘what else is a farmer but a gambler? You never know how the crops are going to do, so farming is just one big gamble.’” When 1965 came, Harry and a friend opened a produce processing company called Pronto Foods in Moses Lake. It is upon opening the company that he was able to become a philanthropist and give back to his community like he always hoped. His loved ones commented on how he always wanted to help other people and organizations. Although Harry died in 1992, he is memorialized on a bronze plaque featuring him and Masie. The plaque hangs on a wall in the ATEC building at Big Bend Community College. Inside the building is the Masto Conference Center, dedicated to him and the legacy he left behind.