Steve Markey joined Agrium Inc. as director of purchasing July 9. He is based in the company’s Denver office, and was most recently with CF Holdings Inc. and Agriliance LLC.
John (Jack) W. Lewis retired on June 15 after 54 years of service with Southern Stevedoring Co. LP, a limited partnership of Kinder Morgan Inc. Lewis handled the potash movement into Houston and Beaumont, Texas, since 1961, and was president of Southern Stevedoring Inc. until May 1, 2005, when Kinder Morgan bought the company and changed its name. Since then, he served as general manager of the new company.
The Yara Foundation has awarded the African Green Revolution Yara Prize for 2007 to Josephine Okot and Akinwumi Adesina for their pioneering work with agricultural inputs and agrodealer networks. The Yara Foundation recognizes their contributions to boosting agricultural productivity and creating livelihood opportunities for communities across Africa. As the founder and managing director of Victoria Seeds Ltd, Yara said Josephine Okot is ably demonstrating how to develop new markets and a local private-sector agricultural inputs industry in her native Uganda. Akinwumi Adesina is widely known for his efforts to make farm inputs available to poor smallhold farmers. He developed a rural agrodealership model to allow owners of small village shops to develop into agrodealers selling agricultural inputs. He helped the Rockefeller Foundation develop a program that provides technical training and certification to this network of agrodealers. Adesina is currently associate director, Food Security and Africa Regional Program, at the Rockefeller Foundation.