FOCUS ON AG: Modesto Good Egg event to feature omelets

The "world's fastest omelet maker" will return to Modesto next month for the 50th annual Good Egg Breakfast, which honors an egg industry supporter.

Also on the ag awards circuit: A Modesto-based squab producer was recognized this month by a poultry group, and Hilmar Cheese Co. executive Tedd Struckmeyer will be honored by the University of California at Davis next month.

The details:

• Good Egg Breakfast: It will be at 7 a.m. Oct. 25 at the DoubleTree Hotel, 1150 Ninth St. The guest speaker will be Howard Helmer of New York City, whose rapid-fire skill with an omelet pan has been showcased on national television and at two previous Good Egg events.

Attendees will dine on made-to-order omelets and raise scholarship money for Modesto Junior College agriculture students.

The 2012 Good Egg Award will be announced near the end. Past honorees have included egg and poultry producers, other people in agriculture and politicians such as then-Gov. Reagan in 1970.

Tickets are $22 in advance and $25 at the door. They can be reserved by calling one of the sponsors: California Poultry Federation, (209) 576-6355; Modesto Chamber of Commerce, (209) 577-5757; Pacific Egg and Poultry Association, (916) 441-0801; or Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, (209) 522-7278.

• Poultry awards: Squab Producers of California, which has processed the young pigeons for upscale restaurants and other customers since 1943, received the Pioneer Award at the annual meeting of the California Poultry Federation in Monterey.

The farmer cooperative started in the Bay Area and moved in 1983 to a plant off Crows Landing Road. It is the nation's largest squab producer and processes game hens and other specialty poultry.

The Modesto-based federation gave its highest honor, the Golden Rooster Award, to state veterinarian Annette Jones. She was cited for her work against exotic Newcastle disease and on other poultry health issues.

The Allied Award went to Don Sneddon of Evonik Industries, a global company involved in poultry feed.

• UC Davis: Struck-meyer, vice president for engineering and business development at Hilmar Cheese, will receive the Award of Distinction from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences on Oct. 5. It is one of eight being given this year.

Struckmeyer is being recognized as a Friend of the College for his help in building a partnership between the dairy industry and the university and in improving dairy research facilities at the campus.

He was hired by Hilmar as a project manager in 1992 and has helped it become the world's largest cheese and whey plant.

Bee staff writer John Holland can be reached at jholland@modbee.com or (209) 578-2385.