By Chandler Hansen, Special to NEAFA
During the 2022 NEAFA Annual Meeting, the Awards Luncheon was held to honor several guests, and to feature the keynote address from event MC, Dave Kuehnel.
To commence the luncheon, NEAFA president Danielle Penney-Stroop recognized the three retiring NEAFA Board members; Jeff Matuszczak of Mercer Milling, Blake Lutz of Lutz Feed Company, Inc., and Secretary Lon Stephens from Co-operatives Feed Dealers, Inc. Each retiring board member also received a plaque for their years of service on the board.
Rick Zimmerman, the immediate past NEAFA Executive Director and a longtime lobbyist for the agricultural industry, was honored with the Distinguished Service Award. Rick formerly served as NEAFA’s Executive Director and has been a longtime agriculture lobbyist. Several colleagues spoke about Rick from their personal and professional relationships with him. “Rick is authentic, principled, and undeterred when he encounters a problem,” said Tom Holden. “You know that he will always get up off the mat after getting knocked down and keep fighting.” Andrew Duggan of Goldstar Feed and a past president of NEAFA, shared that, “Rick has always been committed to advocacy, collaboration, and education on behalf of agriculture.”
Zimmerman was grateful for the award. “I am humbled” to receive this award,” said Zimmerman. “I would like to thank my family, friends, and many colleagues.” Zimmerman was quick to point out that his accomplishments were not completed alone as he said, “It’s not what I’ve done, it’s what we’ve done. During my time at NEAFA, the organization saw the creation of three strategic plans and 10 committees, stayed at the forefront of lobbying and advocacy work for the agricultural industry, and received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to benefit the agricultural community. These accomplishments are evidence that NEAFA is able to realize its goals through collaboration.” Zimmerman received a plaque thanking him for his years of service to the group.
Lastly, Kuehnel, delivered the keynote address during the Awards Luncheon. Kuehnel ran a successful young animal nutrition business for decades, and is the founder of Rule of Three Solutions, LLC, a consulting agency. The keynote, entitled “Strength in Numbers Starts with the Power of ONE,” is the idea that for a group to accomplish its goals, there must be, “one voice, one action, and one commitment through unity.” The keynote focused on this mindset using examples from Kuehnel’s own life experiences growing up in a multi-racial and multi-ethnic family, living on a farm, and his time as an animal nutritionist.