SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois Department of Agriculture’s (IDOA) Director Chuck Hartke was given the John W. Maitland Jr. Leadership in Biotchnology Award on Nov. 28.

The award was presented during a reception at the Illinois State Library Atrium at 300 S. Second Street in Springfield, Ill. The award was given to Hartke from the Illinois Biotechnology Industry Organization, also known as iBIO.

This organization, according to its website www.ibio.org/index, champions life sciences in Illinois and the Midwest. With leaders from business, academia and politics, iBIO promotes the development and retention of new companies as well as corporate expansion. We also advocate sensible public policy at the local, state and federal levels.

Hartke was recognized by the organization for his work to expand the use of renewable fuels.

IDOA Spokesperson Jeff Squibb stated the award was also to recognize Hartke for incorporating “agriculture into the Illinois pavilion at BIO 2006, a prestigious international life sciences conference held in Chicago last April.

“The Chicago conference was the industry’s first in the Midwest,” he said, “and offered Illinois a unique opportunity to showcase its agricultural biotechnology to the more than 20,000 people and 2,500 biotech organizations that attended.”

This farm news was published in the Dec. 6, 2006 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.