F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 8 10 POTATO GROWER Willem Schrage To Receive NPPGA’s Meritorious Service Award Willem Schrage will accept the NPPGA’s Meritorious Service Award at the Chairman’s Banquet held on Tuesday, February 20th at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Willem Schrage retired April 4, 2016 from the North Dakota State Seed Department. Willem joined the Seed Department in September of 2007 after a long, distinguished and geographically diverse career in the potato industry. Willem direct- ed field inspection, shipping point, tissue culture/greenhouse, winter test, grower relations and seed reg- ulatory aspects of the NDSSD Seed Potato Program. Before North Dakota Seed Willem was Head of the Potato Inspection Program for the Minn-esota Department of Agriculture for 13 years. Willem is a native of the Nether- lands, where he developed an inter- est in agriculture and farmed prior to earning an advanced degree. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in plant sciences and nema- tology, which served him well in a career path taking him worldwide working with seed potatoes. Here are just a few of his accolades: 1976-77: International Potato Cen- ter, Lima Peru. 1977-79: International Potato Cen- ter (Regional Center), Izmir, Turkey. Development of a national seed potato program, research and extension. 1979-82: International Potato Cen- ter, Tunis, Tunisia. Tunisian National Seed Potato Program (expatriate manager of the national seed potato program). 1982-85: Seed Potato Specialist for the N.B. Department of Agriculture. Duties included seed potato research and extension, manage- ment/ coordination of the provin- cial seed potato production pro- gram. 1985-94: Florenceville, New Bruns- wick, Canada. Manager of the N.B. Potato Agency (Provincial Potato Marketing Board). 1994-2007: East Grand Forks, Minn-esota. Head of Potato Inspection Program, Minnesota Department of Agriculture. 2007-2016: Potato Program Director, North Dakota State Seed Department. Willem has been active in many professional societies and organiza- tions throughout his career. During his time in the U.S. with Minnesota and North Dakota seed agencies, he has served as Secretary/Treasurer of the Potato Association of America Seed Certification Section along with service on other seed-related committees with the National Potato Council, U.S. Potato Board and USDA. He has represented U.S. seed potato programs with the UNECE specialized section on seed potatoes, traveling world-wide for meetings representing the U.S. This dedication to and professional rep- resentation of potato seed growers in the region speaks to Willem’s commitment to the seed industry. While Willem’s career is very much international in scope, he served this region’s seed growers with dis- tinction for over twenty years. His Willem Schrage with his wife Gail.