2011 Leader in Agriculture Award winners announced

Agriculture Future of America announces Paul F. Engler and Sara R. Wyant have been selected as 2011 Leader in Agriculture Award winners. AFA sponsors the award to honor individuals whose accomplishments in their personal lives and professional careers have distinguished them as mentors to others in the agriculture industry.

Engler and Wyant will be honored at the Leader an award dinner held during the 2011 AFA Leaders Conference, Nov. 3-6, in Kansas City, Mo. The dinner, held on Nov. 4, will host nearly 900 global leaders, students and supporters of agriculture.

Engler is the founder and chairman emeritus of Cactus Feeders, Inc., based in Amarillo, Texas. Raised in Nebraska, Engler owned his first herd of cattle at age 12, and at age 15 began college at the University of Nebraska. In 1960, he founded the Hereford Feedyard in Texas, before becoming Head of Carcass Division for the Iowa Beef Producers, where he eventually initiated the establishment of a Texas-based IBP slaughter facility. In 1975, Engler founded Cactus Feeders, which is now the world's largest privately owned cattle feeding operation. Engler is a member of the International Stockmen's Hall of Fame and serves on the Board of Directors for the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Harrington Regional Medical Center, and the West Texas A&M University Foundation. Engler was inducted into the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame in 2009.

Wyant is the president of Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc., which publishes the Agri-Pulse newsletter and website. After growing up on a farm near Marengo, Iowa, Wyant attended Iowa State University. Her earlier work includes farm policy reporting on Capitol Hill and serving as the vice president for editorial operations for Farm Progress. Wyant is a member of the Steering Committee for the 25 by '25 Renewable Energy Group, serves on the Advisory Board of the Agricultural Marketing Resources Center at Iowa State University, and is past president of the American Agricultural Editors' Association. In 2000, she received an AAEA Oscar in Agriculture for excellence in agricultural reporting.