Aug 12, 2025

MSU Extension’s Ben Phillips honored

Michigan State University (MSU) Extension vegetable specialist Benjamin Phillips received the distinguished service award from the National Association of County Agriculture Agents (NACAA).

The award was presented during NACAA’s 2025 Annual Meeting and Professional Improvement Conference in Billings, Montana, in early July.

Based out of the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center, Phillips serves commercial field and greenhouse vegetable growers who target the fresh, wholesale and processing markets in southwest Michigan. His duties include crop scouting, pest identification, crop management and food safety consultation, resource development, educational programming, vegetable production research, and facilitating research projects with MSU’s faculty researchers and grower collaborators.

Phillips has written or co-authored numerous papers, including work with strawberries.

“I really enjoyed cutting my teeth in the vegetable industry with the Amish groups in the Thumb, the market growers around Bay City and Macomb, and the big vegetable growers in Imlay City,” Phillips said in a news release. “The pickling cucumber industry in the Saginaw Bay region and the vegetable growers in southwest Michigan have also been very supportive in my learning. I am always humbled that they put their trust in me to help them in return. Members of my professional association helped me make those connections and taught me a lot about communication. They are very kind to put me up for this award.”

The Michigan Association of Extension Agents (MAEA) selected Phillips for the award. The award recognizes members with more than 10 years of service who have exhibited excellence in the field of professional Extension. 

Phillips holds a BS in fisheries and wildlife, a MS in entomology and has been with MSU Extension for nearly 12 years. MAEA selected Phillips to recognize his innovative vegetable programming and past service to the association as president, according to the release.

“Ben Phillips has developed into a well-respected Extension professional that is able to work directly with both commercial growers and beginning vegetable grower enthusiasts,” Ron Bates, MSU Extension’s director of agriculture and agribusiness programming, according said in the release. “He has very good technical skills and is able to meet his audience where they are and effectively communicate with them so that they can learn the information they need and effectively incorporate it into their lives and businesses. Ben is well deserving of the Distinguished Academic Service Award and we congratulate him on this well-deserved recognition.”

NACAA is a nationwide professional Extension organization established for Extension educators and other professionals who work in agriculture, horticulture, forestry and natural resources, 4-H youth development, community development and related disciplines. The distinguished service award is bestowed on members who are held in high esteem by their fellow workers and have developed and put into effect outstanding Extension programs. Phillips was one of several honorees who represent the top 2% of NACAA membership.