Darren “JW” Lemons honored as 2020 Western Region CCA of the Year Award

The Western Region Certified Crop Advisers are pleased to announce Darren “JW” Lemons as the 2020 Western Region Certified Crop Adviser of the Year.

The CCA of the Year Award recognizes a WRCCA member who has shown dedicated and exceptional performance as an agronomist and leads others to promote agricultural practices that benefit the farmers and environment in the Western Region. 

JW is the National Agronomist, Product Development Manager and Marketing Coordinator for SQM North America. JW became a PCA first then moved his focus to CCA in 2000. He joined the WRCCA Board of Directors in 2015 and has served as Secretary, Vice Chair, Chairman and is now the Chair Ex-Officio. In 2016, after strong encouragement from Allan Romander, Lemons joined the ranks as a Certified Professional Agronomist (CPAg).

JW has been instrumental in leading the WRCCA program in a direction of growth. This includes new management as well as bringing more young people into the CCA program. JW has focused on CCA program promotion to colleges. He spearheaded establishing the student CCA testing program with substantially reduced testing fees to encourage more participation. He mentored two Green Scholarship recipients and traveled to Washington DC twice to advocate to Congress for Graduate Research Funding.

A native of Washington state, JW was raised on a family farm. He graduated from Washington State with a BS in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management. He served four years in the US Army as a Combat Engineer. JW has dedicated much of his career to serving agriculture in leadership positions and on boards, earning many awards along the way. His passion for agriculture is evident and continues to benefit the industry.

Congratulations

The Western Region CCA program is committed to refining knowledge and skill of those making important decisions in the field. CCA’s work with producers to help make economically and environmentally sound decisions. This counsel is the result of the hours spent gaining knowledge and perspective through requirements to become a certified crop adviser. CCA’s play a vital role working with producers to ensure sustainability and long term success for agriculturalists