Becker receives early career honor from CFAES

Frank Becker, Ohio State University Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension educator for Wayne County, has received a top honor from the university’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Becker was presented with the Distinguished Early Career Extension Professional Award at the 2026 CFAES Awards and State of the College Ceremony in Columbus. The award recognizes innovation in Extension programming, partnership with Extension professionals statewide, strong scholarly Extension projects, stakeholder support and engagement with Extension professionals. This recognition is for Extension professionals with less than seven years of experience.

Becker, who was hired in 2020 as the county Integrated Pest Management Program coordinator and as the ANR educator in Wayne County in 2023, leads a county-based IPM scouting program that deploys more than 100 insect-monitoring traps across diversified fruit and vegetable operations, delivering real-time data and recommendations to fruit and vegetable growers.

To better serve Amish and plain communities, Becker worked with colleagues to establish bulletin boards and sample drop-off sites at produce auctions, where he shares more than 1,500 fact sheets annually and hosts weekly office hours to strengthen collaboration, trust and improve management practices among a traditionally hard-to-reach audience.

As his nominator noted, “Frank’s engagement with stakeholders is what makes him exceptional. He collaborates with commodity groups, local produce auctions and statewide teams to deliver programming that meets the needs of all crop farmers, especially produce farmers in northeast Ohio.”