Eminent Leaders in Agriculture, Family and Community Announced

The South Dakota State University colleges of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences and Education and Human Sciences are honoring three South Dakotans with the 2022 Eminent Leaders in Agriculture, Family and Community Award.

For nearly a century, this time-honored award recognizes South Dakotans for their contributions of leadership and service on the local, state, and national levels. The 2022 honorees are Walt Bones III, Chancellor; Delores Henderson, Sioux Falls and Bryan Jorgensen, Ideal.

"The Eminent awards help us recognize what is truly important," said Paul Barnes, dean of the College of Education and Human Sciences. "With everything going on in the world today, it is often easy to lose sight of the things that are really important. Community and family are among the most important things we can focus on."

Established in 1927, the annual award formerly known as the Eminent Farmer/Rancher and Homemaker Award is a true South Dakota tradition with a legacy of more than 300 recipients.

SDSU selects individuals to honor based on confidential nominations. The nominations are reviewed and honorees are recommended by a committee of faculty members, administrators, SDSU Extension personnel and past award recipients. The honorees are approved by the deans of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences and College of Education and Human Sciences.

The 2022 award recipients will be recognized during a recognition banquet held at McCrory Gardens Education and Visitor's Center on the campus of SDSU Sept. 16. During the banquet portraits of the award recipients are unveiled. These portraits will be displayed in a virtual gallery at https://www.sdstate.edu/eminent-leaders.

"This award is important because we have a number of really strong leaders in our industry who donate their time over the course of their careers and lives to better our state and the agriculture industry of our state," said Joseph Cassady South Dakota Corn endowed dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. "This award is one way we can take some time to recognize and show appreciation to those individuals who have gone above and beyond."

To learn more about the award, ticketing information or to nominate an individual for the award, contact Angela Loftesness, Eminent Leaders in Agriculture, Family, and Community Chair at

angela.loftesness@sdstate.edu or 605-688-6732.