CNB News
Weatherford Award Presented to Doc & Connie Hatfield
by Oregon State University Austin Entrepreneurship Program
Doc and Connie Hatfield, founders of Country Natural Beef, were among the recipients of the prestigious Weatherford Awards on February 17, 2010. The Awards honor annually those individuals who have practiced lifelong entrepreneurship and innovation and have made a significant impact on the social and economic sustainability of Oregon business.
From their ranch in Brothers, Oregon, the Hatfields started Country Natural Beef in 1986 with a handful of neighboring ranches who believed that the rural rancher and the urban consumer could forge a connection beneficial to both. The cooperative has now grown to over one-hundred ranch families who manage some 6.3 million acres. Environmental and economic sustainability, lean healthy beef with excellent eating quality, humane animal care, and a close rancher/consumer connection are the hallmark attributes of the co-op. Ranchers own their cattle from birth to harvest with consumer dollars being returned to member ranch families.
The Awards are sponsored by Oregon State University’s Austin Entrepreneurship Program. “We wanted to honor some of the region’s most enterprising people who continually work to improve our economic, social and environmental welfare,” said Ilene Kleinsorge, dean of the OSU College of Business. “The Hatfields, with their commitment to providing consumers with sustainable and healthy beef, are among the most deserving of this award.”
The Hatfields join a distinguished list of this year’s honorees including: Frank Cloutier‚ leader of the HP team that developed the ink jet printer, Douglas Engelbart, Ph.D., inventor of the computer mouse, Bob Moore, founder of Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods, James Peterson, Ph.D., world-leading wheat breeder, and Cory Schreiber, pioneer of the Northwest natural food movement.
