RICHMOND, Ind. — This Friday, Joe Meyer of Williamsburg is being recognized by Junior Achievement as a 2011 Laureate for the Eastern Indiana Business Hall of Fame.

Meyer, 72, farmed until 1990 while concurrently serving as vice president with an ownership position at Western Cullen Hayes, a company creating and manufacturing track appliances for the railroad industry.

Today he has turned the major farming over to his son, Steve, and his brother, Bob, and together the two partners and “one old-timer” farm 1,500 acres. Following the family tradition, Steve works with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Bob works on John Deere equipment for Smith Equipment Co. while carrying the farming load.

Typically Meyer downplays his involvement in the farming operation; “I can still do a day’s work, if you’ll give me seven days to work at it.”

He still carries responsibilities away from the farm. He is a Region 9 Trustee for Ivy Tech Community College. He emphasizes he “is a strong advocate of our health industries here in the Richmond, Indiana, area.”

One of his favorite activities is helping Ivy Tech and Indiana University East students have careers in health services. Having had some health issues, including surgery that lasted 10.5 hours, Meyer speaks from the heart in encouraging health-related careers for young people.

Meyer is forward-looking for ag, too, and stresses, “There’s a tremendous future for young people in the production of food products in the next 40 years. We have to feed the people, feed their minds, imagination and determination in the realm of nutritional farm production. The young folks have a very important resource for America between their ears.”

He is an inspiration for the benefits of education. Meyer started in the railroad industry in 1959 with responsibility for mowing the grounds. He educated himself in drafting and was plant superintendent by the age of 25. Today he is the holder of important patents in the railway track equipment field.

He has excelled in agriculture, as well. He served 11 years on the Indiana Soybean Board and nine years on the United Soybean Board (USB).

In these capacities he was on the USB International Marketing Committee and the Soy Transportation Coalition.

Meyer explained “soybeans are charged at a higher rate per ton for shipment than most anything else.” This has an effect on the competitive marketing environment for America’s soybean producers. He’s concerned about the lack of interest in improving the infrastructure for transportation facilities.

Citing this need, he points out widening and dredging ports in the Southeast is needed now. The improvements on the Panama Canal will, by 2014, see larger ships transporting commodities with no Southeast ports able to handle them closer than Norfolk, Va.

The Mississippi River won’t be able to handle these larger, more cost-effective shipments, as it can’t be dredged enough, he said. He added the Mississippi River locks are six-barge locks. The new transportation is and will be handled by 12-barge units, so he said he’s advocating for improvement to this transportation infrastructure if the United States is to remain competitive in marketing farm commodities.

Meyer has a worldview of agriculture, having traveled in 30 countries and made four trips to China since 1981. “On my first trip to China, all you could see were bicycles. Now I’ve seen a China with more Mercedes autos than bicycles plying the streets and highways,” he said.

He also related the benefits of creating new markets for farm commodities. India has 20 percent of the world’s population but only 4 percent of the world’s fresh water, he explained. On his first trip there the country was producing a kilo of fish in 10.5 months; now with an American soybean ration, India is producing the kilo of fish in 5.5 months.

Meyer willingly shares his lifetime of wisdom and is an engaging conversationalist. He’s also an accomplished writer, having authored several important papers on various topics through the years. He’s still looking forward, though self-deprecating. “I’m not ready to quit, dammit, but I wear out too often before I get there,” he quipped.

He and his wife, Roma, have an extensive remodeling project going on in their home. Roma has gained her own recognition as a wonderful cook, as well as an astute businesswoman.

Meyer’s induction is Friday evening at the Forest Hills Country Club in Richmond. For more, call 765-962-0503.