Billings Chamber Of Commerce: Bill Dutcher Honored As 2021 Agriculture Excellence Award Recipient

Press release from the Billings Chamber of Commerce:

January 21, 2022

The Billings Chamber of Commerce’s 2021 recipient of the Award for Agriculture Excellence is Bill Dutcher, the recently retired general manager of MetraPark.

Dutcher’s commitment to advancing the agriculture industry is evidenced through his vast service record, from pouring orange juice and flipping pancakes for youth breakfasts with the Chamber Ag Committee to serving in leadership roles for the Rocky Mountain Association of Fairs, IAFE, and numerous other boards and committees.

MontanaFair at MetraPark is truly a labor of love, at least in Dutcher’s eyes, as they light up when he talks about this event. Each year, MetraPark staff dedicate themselves to planning and putting on the fair, alongside 4-H and the Extension Service as well as numerous other partners and sponsors. The annual nine-day event is held in August, sprawling over the 189-acre multi-purpose complex. As soon as the fair is done for the current year, efforts quickly shift into planning the next one.

In 2020, 80 percent of fairs didn’t happen across the nation, but it did in Billings! Yellowstone County Commissioners and MetraPark Board of Directors determined that agriculture is too important to not to have a fair. Thus, the 4-H and FFA youth were able to come and exhibit their indoor projects and livestock at the pinnacle of their year. “We had a wonderful livestock sale, sans night shows, we made it through the 106th fair and the importance of ag was evident at all of the events. Now, it will be back with rodeo, commercial vendors, ag machinery and more,” remarked Dutcher. In 2021, MontanaFair had an impressive attendance of 225,000.

 Ag tours are a fond memory of his involvement with the Chamber Ag Committee. Each year exposed him to something he didn’t know before, from touring the Colstrip Power Plant and taking a photo with the other 99 attendees in the large bucket that scoops coal, to power distribution at Yellowtail Dam and the moss catcher at Two Leggin’s Canal, not to mention when the bus got stuck at lunch and had to be pulled out by the neighbor’s John Deere tractor!

Traveling to see and experience agriculture and related industries in Southeast Montana was a highlight for a number of years, through the opportunity to attend the Chamber Ag Tour. Participants learned about ag businesses right in our backyard from Yellowstone Valley Electric Cooperative, to KGHL, both stockyards—PAYS and BLS, and Project Meats. Everyone should know what’s in their backyard and the tour provided that learning opportunity.

Dutcher shared that the Chamber can be proud of their role in Senator Daines and Tester’s involvement from the national level at the Ag Committee meetings. At the Midland Roundtable, attendees learn who’s slated to win state in high school sports and at the Ag Committee meetings it’s what the weight of calves are, tonnage of sugar beets, and what grain harvests are predicted to be, truly the pulse of happenings in the agriculture industry in the Billings area.

In Dutcher’s own words, “wonderful relationships and partners, doers, and learning opportunities abound in this committee!” His words of advice for those starting in ag are “don’t ever give up. The droughts will come and go, moisture will come and go, markets will come and go, but don’t ever give up. Things are going to get better—hang in there. Good people help other people. Someone will always be there to help you through.”

Dutcher will be honored during the 2022 Billings Chamber Ag Appreciation Celebration Banquet on January 28, 2022 from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the MetraPark Pavilion. This will be the first time since 2020 that the celebration banquet has been held. Leading up to this banquet, is the second annual Ag Celebration Week, January 24-28, 2022.

This press release was produced by the Billings Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author’s own.