The world of agriculture will be recognized at the Alberta Order of Excellence in 2025.
Nichole Neubauer of Medicine Hat and John Scott of Longview are among the nine inductees to be recognized for their service and achievements in their given field.
As the province’s highest honour, it is part of the Canadian Honours System and celebrates individuals whose leadership, innovation and dedication have shaped Alberta’s identity and strengthened its future.
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Member impact ranges from medicine, science, engineering, law and business to politics, education, community service, agriculture and the arts.
“Since 1979, the Alberta Order of Excellence has recognized individuals who have made transformative contributions to our province. I am very proud to extend this honour to these nine men and women, whose lives have had an immeasurable impact upon Alberta history and opened new opportunities for countless other Albertans,” said Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani in a press release.
Neubauer has helped increase awareness of agriculture in the province for decades in the Medicine Hat region.
She was named recipient of the 2024 honourary applied baccalaureate degree from Medicine Hat College and helped create and co-ordinate the Irvine Agricultural Discovery Centre with Prairie Rose Public Schools.
Neubauer played a key role in the formation of the Agricultural Committee at the Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce (now the Southeast Alberta Chamber) and has collaborated with the college to develop a suite of courses through its extended learning department.
She is also the recipient of the 2022 Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal and the winner of the 2020 Women in Business Inspire Award.
According to the Medicine Hat News, Neubauer Farms was established north of Irvine more than 110 years ago in 1910, and has been owned and operated by a member of the family ever since.
John Scott is a third-generation rancher on a property near the southern Alberta community of Longview which has its own claim to fame. He built three separate western movie sets on his ranch, a 5,000 acre property, featuring such movies as Unforgiven and Legends of the Fall.
His love of ranching and animals led to work in Hollywood starting in the early 1970s, riding animals as a stuntman on various westerns. That profession would last five decades and included involvement in seven Academy-Award-winning movies, according to Global News.
In the 1980s, Scott ran one of the first rodeo steer-riding schools, where future Calgary Stampede bronc, bareback and bull riders learned their craft. For more than four decades, he has provided the Calgary Stampede Parade with many of its horses.
Gary Mar, chair for the Alberta Order of Excellence Council, said deciding who should receive the award is never easy.
“We try the first cut at it, and narrow it down to 50 people, and then narrow it down further from there, ” he said.
“It’s a different test, but that is not to say there aren’t amazing people who do things at the community level. These are the people of the highest contribution to the Province of Alberta, and sometimes the country and even the world. They are not all household names, but when you look at what they have done, it is pretty remarkable.”
The investiture ceremony will be held in Edmonton in October. It will bring the total membership of the Alberta Order of Excellence to 229.
The full list of inductees can be found at alberta.ca/the-alberta-order-of-excellence.
