The Purdue University Agricultural Alumni Association honored 10 agricultural leaders for their contributions to agriculture and their communities.
The association presented the Certificate of Distinction on Saturday (Feb. 6) during the annual Ag Alumni Fish Fry at the Toyota Blue Ribbon Pavilion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis.
"This award has been presented annually since 1938 and is the highest honor bestowed by the Ag Alumni Association," said Donya Lester, the association's executive secretary. "Like those who have received the award before them, this year's recipients have made a significant impact on the agricultural profession."
The 2010 recipients include: Jerry Nickel of Connersville, Ind. Nickel is president and founder of Midwest Ag Finance (MAF), a financial services firm based in Rushville that services a loan portfolio of $170 million and insures 190,000 crop acres in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. MAF employs 37 people and originates about 25 percent of the loans guaranteed by the Indiana Farm Service Agency (FSA) - nearly twice as much as FSA's second most active lender. Nickel was president and secretary/treasurer of the Indiana Ag Bankers Society, served on the Ag Committee of the Indiana Bankers Association and was a member of former Sen. Dan Quayle's ag advisory committee and the Indiana Agriculture Strategic Planning Committee. He earned a bachelor's degree in animal science from Purdue in 1975.
Other recipients included: Frank M. Clark of Williamsport, Ind., H. Wayne Dillman of Martinsville, Ind., Nola J. Gentry of West Lafayette, Ind., Ross Jabaay of Ames, Iowa, Robert L. Nielsen of West Lafayette, Ind., Raymond L. "Mick" Ortman of Kokomo, Ind., Wayne L. Singleton of West Lafayette, Ind., Gary G. Standiford of Lafayette, Ind., and Melvin F. Vance of Waynetown, Ind.
