A special tribute to Gregg Carlson

It was not unusual for Gregg Carlson, then the superintendent of the Northern Agricultural Research Center, to work all day, spend the evening at a meeting with area farmers and then return to the center and work through the night.

"In the morning, he'd rush home take a shower and then return to work," recalls Adam Billmayer, a Hogeland farmer and a member of the center's advisory board.

In tribute to Carlson's 42 years of work for agriculture - first with Montana Extension and later with the research center, the center's laboratory and office building will be renamed the Gregg R. Carlson Agricultural Science Center.

It would not be unusual to get an email from Carlson marked 2 a.m., said Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson. Peterson was in 4-H and Carlson was a 4-H agent when the two first met.

"This is a great day,"said Peterson of the MSU announcement.

"Agricultural research is in his blood," said Billmayer said.

In 2010, Carlson sustained serious injuries in a fall, and he formally retired in 2012. Friends say he is up and around, though his speech has suffered from the injuries.

Formal dedication ceremonies will take place July 1, when celebrations will mark the center's 100th anniversary.

Darris Boss, who succeeded Carlson at the research center, told Carlson Tuesday of the decision of the Montana University System Board of Regents to rename the facility.

"He looked at me," Boss said. "But I told him it wasn't me. It was the producers, the farmers and the community."

Peterson spearheaded the effort to get the building renamed, but said dozens of people helped out by writing letters of recommendation to Montana State University officials. Farmers, community leaders and public officials joined in, he said.

Supporters started the idea in 2010, just after Carlson was injured, Peterson said. But Montana University System rules say buildings can't be named after employees, which Carlson technically was.

Efforts were renewed 2012, he said. There was slow going at first, but the pace picked up recently, and the idea sailed through the appropriate committees, MSU President Waded Cruzado and the Montana Board of Regents.

Peterson recalled that over the years, Carlson was a strong defender of the research center - "not just his, but all the research stations around the state," Peterson said.

In the 1990s, there were tough economic times and there was discussion of closing one or more stations, Peterson said.

Carlson fought hard to get money to not only keep the center open but to build new facilities.

The new facility was the first ag research center building in Montana to be paid for by a combination of state funds and private donations.

Carlson was effective in securing donations, Peterson said.

Carlson's research work was respected around the state, Peterson said. "His research was so meticulous."

Boss said Carlson's passion was to help farmers make more money so they would be more likely to pass farms on to the next generation.

If the research was successful, he would make sure it got out to producers as soon as possible, he said.

If it failed, he figured, it would be better for it to fail at the research center and not in the farmers' fields.

Boss said Carlson was surprised when he told him of the renaming.

But Boss said Carlson believes that the award is really for all the employees of the research station over the past 100 years.

Boss said everyone - from the college students who work part-time at the station to the top researchers should feel honored at the 100th anniversary celebration.

The research center holds an open house each year, he said,, but this will be special.

Boss said the center will take "a then-and-now look" at agriculture on the Hi-Line and agricultural research in general.

People will learn about the research center and its humble beginnings a century ago and what it is like today, he said

Technology and research has changed the face of agriculture, he said.

"People talk about the dirty '30s," he said, looking back at the years of the big drought and the Dust Bowl.

But studies show that the drought of the 1980s and early 1990s were nearly as bad, he said. But the impact on farmers was substantially less.

Part of the difference, he said, was that the economy of the rest of the country was in pretty good shape in the 1990s, and thus the effect on farmers was not as bad.

But a big difference was that research allowed producers to raise more crops than they ever could have in the '30s.

The building dedication and the annual Havre Area Chamber of Commerce's Ag Committee annual Ag Appreciation Dinner will be held at that time.

In announcing the decision to rename the building, an MSU press release praised Carlson for his work with producers.

In a letter of support from all 23 members of the center's advisory council, Carlson was described as "a visionary beyond his years" and "a great inspiration to many in the agriculture, research and business, the press release said.

But some people recalled Carlson's contributions to the Havre community beyond the research center.

"He was a great member of the Lions Club," said Lions member Jim Rowlatt, a friend of Carlson's since the 1970s.

As busy as he was with his job, he was always the person to call upon if a task needed to be done, Rowlatt said.

He was a past-president of the Lions "and held just about every office in the Lions," he said.

Just like at work "everything he did was right down to the last dot," he said.

Carlson remains active in the club today, he said.

Because his speech is limited, he used a notepad to communicate, Rowlatt said.

People still still like to chide him: "Write louder Greg, we can't hear you," people say to him.

Carlson's contributions to the Hi-Line agricultural community will be felt for many years to come, Billmayer said.

"He's like a well of knowledge," he said.

"I'm familiar with his work," he said. "You don't have time to listen to it all. ... He's a real asset to the Golden Triangle and all of Montana."

"I live on the Flat," the Hogeland farmer said. "I know everybody on the Big Flat would like to thank him."