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Four Oaks resident earns Distinguished Service Award
from October 2023
by Johnston Now
Submitted by NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COUNTY AGRICULTURE AGENTS
DES MOINES, IOWA — Dan Wells received the Distinguished Service Award (DSA) from the National Association of County Agriculture Agents (NACAA) during the 2023 Annual Meeting and Professional Improvement Conference in Des Moines Iowa recently.
The NACAA is a nationwide professional Extension organization established for Extension Educators/Agents and other professionals who work in agriculture, horticulture, forestry and natural resources, 4-H youth development, community development and related disciplines.
The award is conferred on members who have worked in Extension for at least 10 years, are held in high esteem by their fellow workers and have developed and put into effect an outstanding Extension program.
Since 2010, Wells has served as Livestock Agent with NC Cooperative Extension in Johnston County. His Extension programs provide educational information in the areas of livestock and forage management, as well as overseeing the largest singlecounty youth livestock program in the state.
Over the course of his career, he has designed and installed demonstration plots of alfalfabermuda grass mixtures and forage herbicide treatments, and in 2016 he secured grant funding to make portable cattle handling equipment available to local farms.
This equipment has been used throughout the county to help producers safely vaccinate, utilize pregnancy tests and perform other management practices on thousands of cattle and calves.
He works closely with the Johnston County Cattlemen's Association and the Johnston County Goat Producers Association to conduct educational programs. One example is the Johnston County Goat Producer's Field Day, which has been attended by as many as 129 people per year.
Under Dan's leadership and coaching, the Johnston County 4-H Livestock Judging team has notched multiple state wins, and he has twice served as assistant coach for North Carolina's state 4-H team at the National 4-H Livestock Judging Contest.
Wells attended NC State University and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Agriculture Education and a Masters of Animal Science. He lives in Four Oaks with his wife Susan, daughter Anna, and stepson Jeffrey. Away from work, Dan enjoys playing bluegrass music, being active in his church and deer hunting.
