Earl Cheek of Perry, Tommy Irvin of Mt. Airy and Josiah
Phelps
of Fort Valley have been inducted into the Georgia Agricultural
Hall of Fame at the University of 
Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Named by the UGA CAES Agricultural Alumni Association, Hall
of Fame members are chosen based on their contributions to
Georgia
agriculture.
For 37 years, Cheek taught vocational agriculture to the
students
of Perry High School. Over his career, he established two
vocational
agriculture departments, advised 19 National Golden Emblem
Future
Farmers of America Chapters and seven state chapter winners. He
taught 25 American Farmers Degree and 250 Planters Degree
recipients.
Cheek was dedicated to making farmers’ voices heard in
Washington.
From 1974 until 1983, he worked as an administrative aid to
Senator
Sam Nunn and then to the late Congressman Richard Ray.
For the past 31 years, Irvin has been elected to serve as
Georgia’s
Commissioner of Agriculture. He has worked to make the
Department
of Agriculture one of Georgia’s most efficiently and
economically
run agencies and one of the most progressive in the 
nation.
In the early ’70s, hog cholera was declared eradicated
through
procedures implemented by Irvin’s efforts. The U.S. Department
of Agriculture adopted his plan nationally, which led to a hog
cholera-free nation in 1978.
Irvin has implemented eradication programs for brucellosis
and tuberculosis in livestock, and Georgia has since become free
of these diseases. He also helped develop and successfully
implement
the Boll Weevil Eradication Program.
Irvin established the departments first international trade
section. As a result of this section’s efforts, exports of
Georgia
farm products rose from $204 million in 1972 to an estimated
$1.1
billion in 1998.
Phelps has touched
the lives of countless vocational agriculture students since
accepting
his first teaching job in 1946. His teaching career began at
Waynesboro
High and Industrial School and expanded to include the entire
state.
In 1953, he was named executive secretary of the New Farmers
of America, an organization for black students, and director of
Camp John Hope, a facility for young agricultural students.
When the New Farmers of America and Future Farmers of America
merged during integration, Phelps became assistant FFA executive
secretary. Phelps was named FFA executive secretary in 1980 and
held the position until he retired in 1982.
