Dave and Rita Doerfler, Silverton

It's not often that a husband and wife are both honored as equals for a lifetime of leadership and achievement in agriculture. Dave and Rita Doerfler are deserving winners of several awards that have come their way over the years.

Born in Silverton, Dave Doerfler still resides on the home farm in the Victor Point area that was established by his great-grandfather nearly 130 years ago. While the farm was diversified, a major part of the operation was raising turkeys and other livestock. When Dave was 14, he convinced his dad to plant grass seed on land that was rented out. Several decades later, it is grass seed that continues to be the farm's major commodity.

While he went on to attend Oregon College of Education and later Oregon State University, there was no doubt that he was a farmer and would return to the family operation after college. Dave and Rita were married two years later and, after he got his degree in general agriculture at OSU, joined his parents in running the farm. Within a few years, Dave's sister and her husband joined the farming operation. That gave birth to Ioka Farms, Incorporated.

It didn't take long for Dave to get involved in boards and commissions, starting with the Oregon Bentgrass Commission right out of college. As part of a number of different grass seed commissions and the Oregon Seed Council, Dave helped pass important legislation that allowed the industry to survive. Dave was part of a team that successfully developed a compromise on field burning that allowed growers to keep fire as a tool for cleaning their fields, even though it was phased down considerably.

Dave also served eight years on the State Board of Agriculture, where he helped tackle such major issues as water quality management in the form of Senate Bill 1010, along with Right to Farm legislation.

After attending OCE and marrying Dave, Rita Doerfler was the one who had to make sure the bills were paid while her husband finished school. She has been the treasurer and head bookkeeper for Ioka Farms since 1968. But Rita's contribution to the ag industry really began as an original member of Oregon Women for Agriculture, an organization that has done an excellent job educating the public about important agricultural issues. Rita has held several offices in the organization at the county and state level.

Her second major contribution has been with Oregon Ag-Fest, where she was one of the original organizers. Rita and others turned a good idea into a tremendously successful annual event that brings urban school kids to Salem where they learn to better understand and appreciate agriculture.

In the meantime, there has been a family to raise and a farm to run. Ioka has grown into a major operation that raises grass seed, Christmas trees, a conifer seedling nursery, a seed cleaning ware.house, a trucking service, and a marketing department. The turkeys are gone but the farm thrives.

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These are authentic stories from real farmers.  Any editorial content does not necessarily reflect the beliefs of the Agri-Business Council of Oregon or our members.