The Irrigation Association (IA) awarded Jim Klauzer the 2018 Industry Achievement Award.

The IA’s highest honor, the Industry Achievement Award was established in 1966 and recognizes an individual whose career demonstrates outstanding contributions to the advancement of the irrigation industry and its products and programs, according to the IA.

Klauzer is a sales agronomist with Clearwater Supply in Ontario, Ore., where he focuses on selling and designing efficient drip irrigation systems.

“Irrigation is more than a job, it’s my passion,” Klauzer said. “To be recognized with the IA’s highest honor is both exciting and humbling; I look forward to joining my friends, family and colleagues this December in Long Beach to receive this recognition.”

Klauzer joined Clearwater Supply in 2000. At that time, approximately 3 percent of the onion fields in the Treasure Valley were under drip irrigation. Now, drip irrigation accounts for approximately 75 percent of the onions in the area. Klauzer has been instrumental in driving this significant increase in both the Treasure Valley and the entire Pacific Northwest region of the U.S.

The Irrigation Foundation awarded its 2018 Excellence in Education Award to Franklin Gaudi, Ed.D., CID, CIC, CAIS, CCA, of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly).

“Teaching the next generation about irrigation and agriculture has been very rewarding in and of itself,” Gaudi said. “To be recognized by the Foundation and the IA for doing work that typically goes unnoticed is a great compliment. It has been a pleasure to collaborate with the IA in promoting education, research and careers in irrigation.”

Gaudi is a Cal Poly alumnus and a project manager for the Irrigation Training and Research Center (ITRC). He teaches courses in irrigation water management, on-farm irrigation systems, landscape irrigation, AutoCAD and careers in agriculture. He also teaches many of the irrigation short courses offered in the summer through the ITRC.

Gaudi also serves as a member of the Irrigation Association Certification Board where he assists with maintaining existing certifications and developing new certifications.

Gaudi’s current areas of interest are utilizing domestic wastewater for agricultural forage crop production, drip system evaluations and landscape irrigation design and auditing.

Gaudi and Klauzer will both be honored with this award during the general session at the IA’s Irrigation Show and Education Conference in Long Beach, Calif., on Dec. 6.