Courage, Efforts, Ideas, and Ingenuity…

The citations that have been read at the Eminent Farmer and Homemaker recognition ceremonies from 1927 to the present trace a meaningful history of South Dakota’s rural development. They portray why South Dakota is what it is today, what it took to get it here, and why we have every reason to be proud of our state and its people. The accomplishments of these brave, hardworking, and dedicated people are legendary.

Eminent Farmers and Homemakers are the people who have faced the hardships of raging blizzards, scorching droughts, and insect infestations, the loss of a mate or child. They have met the challenges of livestock, plant, and human stress without losing the vision of leaving this world better than they found it. They have provided and preserved and prepared the foundations upon which future generations of South Dakotans will continue to create a better world in which to live.

They have laid the solid base of our educational system, organized commodity groups, started the South Dakota Guild of Extension Homemakers, defined outstanding agricultural systems that not only maintained but enhanced our natural and renewable resources, established South Dakota as the nation’s leader in numerous agricultural commodities, and extended the impact of South Dakota into nations all over the world.

South Dakotan’s Eminent Farmers and Homemakers are an elite and remarkable group who have made it possible for future generations to live their dreams in this land of infinite variety and infinite opportunity.

Eminent Farmers and Homemakers are the best of the best. They are South Dakota’s finest men and women.