During the closing awards banquet at Ag Media Summit, AAEA honors many who have made a significant impact on the industry – both in the long term and in the present.

The AAEA Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by CHS, honors those who have made significant contributions toward improvement of the viability and value of the organization. One of the two honorees this year was Jack Pitzer who had an extensive career with the National FFA Organization, as a publication director and editor, leader of the convention’s popular career fair and other activities.

The second award winner was Wayne Swegle who has had a long and diverse career, from his early career with Successful Farming, to serving as assistant to the secretary at USDA, to president of the National Millers Federation in the 1980s, to his work with Winrock International in the 1990s and beyond. As a past president, Wayne remains actively in involved in AAEA and serves on two committees.

The 2013 AAEA Distinguished Service Award recipient is Michael Duffy, PhD, professor of agricultural economics at Iowa State University. Dr. Duffy’s leadership in helping beginning farmers for nearly 20 years has helped to facilitate the transfer and transition of farm operations between multiple generations. The award is sponsored by Archer Daniels Midland.

The Andy Markwart Horizon Award, presented by the AAEA Professional Improvement Foundation (PIF) and John Deere in a matching grant partnership, is an annual award given to an AAEA member who embodies the youthful vigor, energy, passion, dedication and creativity shown by Andy in his volunteer work for AAEA for many years. The 2013 winner is Christy Couch Lee, founder of Cee Lee Communications of Illinois, which provides feature and news writing, photography and copy editing for agricultural publications and groups.

See the full list of AAEA awards on the ageditors.com website and check out all the photos in the
2013 Ag Media Summit Photo Album