Successful Farming farm issues editor Cheryl Tevis was presented the Hall of Fame Award this week by Iowa's Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (I-CASH). The award is presented annually by ICASH, a joint venture of Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, the Iowa Department of Public Health, and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

Tevis received the Hall of Fame Award from Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey during a noontime show on WOI radio, broadcast live from the Iowa State Fair. Northey cited her long record of writing stories to improve the safety and health of farm families, particularly farm children. Among those stories was an award-winning feature in the early 1990s titled, "We Kill Too Many Farm Kids." It was a finalist in the National Magazine Awards program, and led to significant progress in making farmsteads safer places for kids.

Tevis authors a regular feature in Successful Farming titled "Rural Health," which covers the range of health issues facing farm families. It is the longest-running series in any farm publication on the topic of family health. She also supervises a Successful Farming program that gives grants to farm families for specific safety projects on their farms. She has served two terms on the board of directors of Farm Safety 4 Just Kids, helping them develop and publicize programming. Tevis has been a frequent speaker at regional and national events on the topic of rural safety and health.

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Tevis is only the seventh person to receive the I-CASH Hall of Fame Award.

I-CASH director Kelley Donham attended the awards presentation, and said he first worked with Tevis on a farm safety story in 1983. "That first article was extremely well-written and accurate, and in my view remains the standard for effective and responsible journalism on this most important topic.

"Her numerous subsequent articles on farm safety over the years have been of equal quality to her original offering," Donham continued. "Our research indicates that farm publications are one of the most trusted sources of information where farmers receive information on health and safety. Cheryl Tevis has taken that trust and built on it to become a state and national leader in agricultural journalism on the issue of farm health and safety. We are very appreciative of her work and of the support that Successful Faming magazine has provided for her important work. Cheryl Tevis is most deserving of the 2007 Iowa Center for Agricultural Safety and Health Hall of Fame Award."