State Winners

 

Larry Sagers was born and raised in Tooele, Utah. As the son of an enthusiastic gardener, Larry took an avid interest in plants and gardens. That love of gardening led him to a career in horticulture. After graduating from Brigham Young University and earning a master's degree from Utah State University, he and his wife, Diane ran a successful florist business with his brothers, in Tooele, Utah. After several years, he started working for the Utah State University Extension Service.

Larry began his Extension career in 1981 as Millard County agricultural agent in Fillmore, Utah. He moved to Utah County as horticulture agent for two years and worked in Salt Lake County as ornamental horticultural agent for 15 years. He is a full professor at Utah State University, teaches numerous credit and non-credit classes and worked with garden centers and greenhouse operators.

For the past ten years, Larry has worked for the Extension Service from his office at Thanksgiving Point, in Lehi, Utah, and as the Horticulture Educational Director for Thanksgiving Point Institute. There, he assisted in the development of the large gardens that opened in the 2000, and established joint educational programs for USU and Thanksgiving Point Institute. He currently serves as Extension's horticulture specialist in Salt Lake, Davis, Tooel, and Utah counties. He is also the educational liaison for the Utah Botanical Center.

Larry is co-host of the award-winning KSL Greenhouse show, ranked as the number one radio program in the Intermountain West. Larry fields questions from callers each Saturday morning. He first appeared on the program in 1982 and took over as the co-host in 1984. The show has now expanded to radio stations in Southern Utah and Idaho. His garden column has appeared weekly in the Deseret Morning News since 1989. He has directed Master Gardener Programs in numerous counties and has taught Master Gardeners in several different states. He is the state Master Gardener Coordinator for Utah State University. In July, Larry was the first person from Utah ever inducted into the Hall of Fame for the National Association of County Agricultural Agents.

 

Troy Dick Cooper has served as a Utah State University Extension agent since 1986. His program areas of assignment are agriculture, horticulture and 4-H. He has developed successful agricultural programs and youth programs. One of the big youth programs is PAWS-ON, an environment educational program that provides hands-on experiences. He enjoys working with the residents of his county in providing Extension programs.