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Truman Graf inducted into National Dairy Hall of Fame

Graf.TrumanTruman Graf, Emeritus Professor of Agricultural Economics, has been inducted into the National Dairy Shrine Hall of Fame. He served the dairy industry for 33 years as an agricultural economics professor at the UW-Madison. He was a prominent figure in regional, national and international dairy policy discussions during his career and continued active consulting well after his retirement in 1985.

Graf’s research included studies regarding the feasibility of merging federal milk orders, analysis of agricultural import policies, dairy consumption trends, the impact of dairy promotion efforts, milk pricing policies, whey marketing, and numerous other issues of practical importance to farmers and processors. State and federal agencies, dairy cooperatives, and industry organizations regularly turned to Graf for his insight on the complex problems of milk marketing, and he consulted or advised governments and businesses in more than 30 countries around the world.

Graf was highly effective as an extension educator, offering timely programs to farmers and dairy processors and consulting privately with farmers. In addition to research and extension, he taught a popular dairy marketing class in which hundreds of students learned the details of dairy policy, milk pricing, and marketing. Graf and his wife, Sylvia, live in Madison, Wis.

Nominated by members of National Dairy Shrine and selected by an anonymous committee, these Pioneers are honored at the National Dairy Shrine banquet at World Dairy Expo. Their portraits are then permanently displayed at the National Dairy Shrine Visitors’ Center in Fort Atkinson, Wis. Other 2009 inductees include Dr. Ernest Berousek, a geneticist and Guernsey breeder devoted to using facts and reason to breed better cows; Philip Higley, who was instrumental in building American Breeders Service and served as its first president; and Harry Roth, a leader in marketing U.S. genetics internationally and forging strategic business alliances to benefit cooperative members.