Groskreutz Receives Agriculture Communicator of the Year

The Minnesota Farm Bureau Foundation held their 98th annual meeting Friday night at the DoubleTree Hotel in Bloomington and handed out a number of awards.

I was there to see KDHL Farm Director Jerry Groskreutz receive the State Agriculture Communicator of the Year award from Minnesota Farm Bureau Foundation President Kevin Paap.

Jerry has been the Farm Director for more than 20 years at KDHL and knows the great tradition of the position at The Mighty 920.

The first voice heard on the airwaves was the legendary Dean Curtis. He was followed by Rod Johnson and Emery Kleven before Jerry arrived from his dairy farm to communicate his passion for agriculture.

Farmers in the KDHL listening area know Jerry doesn't just talk the talk, he has walked the walk. In fact, he still does some crop farming on the family farm near Wells.

As part of receiving the state award, Jerry receives a trip to the American Farm Bureau Foundation annual meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, January 6-11, 2017. Airfare, conference registration and hotel will all be paid for by the Minnesota Farm Bureau Foundation.

I think you will agree this is a very deserving honor for Jerry. He puts in long hours and is dedicated to informing all of us about the issues facing agriculture.

Jerry was not the only award recipient from the listening area. Jennifer Smith was named Post-Secondary Educator of the Year. Smith has been a farm business management educator at Riverland Community College in Austin for eight years.

Dr. Bill Hartmann with the Minnesota Board of Animal Health and William Nelson with CHS Inc. received the highest honor given by the Minnesota Farm Bureau Foundation: the Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award.

Hartmann spent 27 years with the Minnesota Board of Animal Health and was state veterinarian for 15 years. Nelson was vice president of corporate citizenship and president of the CHS Foundation and spent more than two decades at CHS. He was previously a professor at the University of Minnesota.

Nelson was awarded the FFA's Honorary American Farmer degree and was inducted into the Cooperative Hall of Fame.