Brinkmann Named Master Farmer

Darryl Brinkmann is one of four Illinois producers to be honored as 2022 Master Farmers at Prairie Farmer magazine’s annual event, to be held March 17^th in Springfield, Ill.  The award recognizes exceptional agricultural production skills, commitment to family, and service to community.

Darryl and his wife, Jean, live near Carlyle, where they raise 930 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat, and hay while helping with their daughter’s 30-head Angus cattle operation. Darryl is a past National Biodiesel Board chair and Illinois Farm Bureau director, among other positions. He was nominated by 2001 Master Farmer Philip Nelson.

To read the full article please visit the Farm Progress website. 

Prairie Farmer first offered the Master Farmer award 96 years ago, in 1925. Editors have continued the tradition annually since 1968, following a pause initially caused by the Depression. When Editor Clifford Gregory established the Master Farmer program, he felt the award would help give farm people a greater sense of “pride and permanence.” Nearly 350 Illinois producers have been inducted as Master Farmers or Honorary Master Farmers over the program’s history.

The Master Farmer award has been described as Illinois agriculture’s lifetime achievement award. Prairie Farmer continues to present the awards annually because of the important contributions farmers make to Illinois agriculture and their local communities.

Candidates are nominated by farmers, neighbors, agribusiness leaders and farm organizations throughout the state. Every year, judges pour through pages and pages of applications that document a lifetime of work, sifting until they find the very best Illinois farmers — the people who raise good crops and even better families, and who build their communities all along the way.

Some Master Farmers serve in state and national farm leadership positions. Others chair prestigious boards or serve with honor at the highest levels of government. Still others build their farms or businesses to regional or national prominence.

However, all serve their communities — building churches, chairing little-known but important committees, organizing harvest for a stricken neighbor — and continue the service-minded commitment that earned them the Master Farmer distinction in the first place.

Growmark is a financial sponsor of the award. Like the Master Farmer award, the Growmark system was born during the 1920s, when farmer cooperatives first organized the Illinois Farm Supply Co. Today, the brand is known as FS.

To nominate a farmer for the 2023 Master Farmer award, download a nomination form from www.farmprogress.com.  Nominations are due August 26^th.