Jeffery Gatzke of Hitchcock was elected to the South Dakota Farm Bureau (SDFB) board of directors during the organization’s annual meeting in Pierre.  Gatzke has previously served as chair of the SDFB Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee, was a board member of the American Farm Bureau YF&R Committee, and is a graduate of the Partners in Agricultural Leadership program.  He replaces Larry Nagel of Gettysburg, who had served on the Board since 1999.

Paul Shubeck of Beresford and Mike Gebhart of Meadow were re-elected to the Farm Bureau Board.

Cindy Foster of Fulton was elected as chairwoman of the SDFB Women’s Leadership Team, replacing Marie Ingalls of Mud Butte.    Re-elected to the Women’s Leadership Team were Kathy Guthmiller from Menno, Kathleen Wieting from Hitchcock, and Jane Gebhart from Meadow.

Tim and Jane Mehlhaff, Tripp, are the new chairs of the SDFB Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee.  The YF&R program provides Farm Bureau members ages 17-35 with educational programs and opportunities to develop and improve leadership skills.    Josh and Shasta Geigle, Creighton, were elected to a one-year term on the YF&R Committee. 

County Farm Bureaus receiving recognition the Tom McNenny award as outstanding Farm Bureaus are:
    Pennington/Jackson – Kevin Kruse, President
    Clark – Roger Hurlbert, President
   Perkins – Travis Gebhart, President

“Friend of Agriculture” awards were presented to Turnis Farm Service in Platte, and to Bill Lehman, Vocational Agriculture instructor at Gettysburg High School.