Ben L. Robinson Farm Journals, 1929-2000

Ben L. (Ben Lawrence) Robinson was a farmer in Union County, Oregon, from 1937 until his retirement in 1978, operating his parents' farm from 1937 until he bought a ranch near Imbler in 1943. Robinson served on various county and state-wide agricultural organizations, including two years as president of the Oregon Farm Bureau Federation. He was a member of the Oregon State Forestry Board in 1960-1968, the Oregon Water Development Corporation, and the Imbler School Board. Robinson was active in Union County planning activities during the 1950s-1970s. In 1988, Oregon State University presented him with a Diamond Pioneer Agricultural Career Achievement Award.

Robinson was born on December 1, 1906, in Spangle, Washington to Carl and Sophia Grunewald Robinson. His family moved to Montana when he was a boy and he graduated from high school in Wilsall, Montana in 1924. Robinson earned an undergraduate degree in animal husbandry from Montana State College in 1929 and a master's degree from South Dakota State College in 1933. He worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture until 1937, when he returned to Oregon to take over his parents' farm after his father's death. He retired to LaGrande in 1978 and moved to Corvallis in 1995.

Robinson died in Corvallis, Oregon, on February 23, 2000.