Kent Thiesse, MinnStar Bank Senior Vice President & Senior Ag Loan Officer Presented with this Year’s Distinguished Service Award
Saint Paul, MINN.—On November 5,2020, AgriGrowth, a nonprofit, nonpartisan member organization representing the agriculture and food industry, held their annual Ag & Food Summit. The event brought together leaders in agriculture and food to talk about the top issues impacting the industry.
See more coverage of the AgriGrowth Ag & Food Summit here:
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“AgriGrowth is a convener, and we are proud to bring together agri-food leaders, policymakers, thought leaders and experts to talk about how we can work together and advocate for a strong agri-food economy in Minnesota. This year’s Ag & Food Summit was an amazing success, and we are thankful to everyone who joined us,” said Tamara Nelsen, Executive Director of AgriGrowth.
Key Summit highlights include:
- Keynote speaker Tanner Ehmke of CoBank kicked off the day, sharing an in-depth analysis of the ag and economic outlook for 2021 (See Tanner Ehmke's PowerPoint presentation here.)
- Stage Setting: MN AgriFood with AgriGrowth Executive Director Tamara Nelsen and AURI Executive Director Shannon Schlecht (See the Stage Setting PowerPoint presentation here.)
- Ecolab CEO Doug Baker, Land O’Lakes SVP of U.S. Dairy Foods Heather Anfang, and Schwan’s Company VP of Research and Development Stacey Fowler joined AgriGrowth Chairman Rod Hebrink for the panel: Building Agri-Food Resiliency: Lessons from MBOLD Leaders
- Governor Tim Walz joined the event over the lunch hour for his State of the State of Agriculture address
- Blois Olson hosted a discussion with Walker Orenstein of MinnPost and Sara Wyant, President of Agri-Pulse Communications, to talk about the outcomes and impact of the 2020 election (See the 2020 Election PowerPoint presentation here.)
Additionally, MinnStar Bank SVP and Senior Ag Loan Officer Kent Thiesse was presented with this year’s Distinguished Service Award. Since 1968, it has been an AgriGrowth tradition to present the Distinguished Service Award for unique service and significant contributions to strengthening food systems and agriculture in Minnesota.
“I also want to add a special this year’s Distinguished Service Award winner, Kent Thiesse. His significant contributions to agriculture and his leadership in our industry is greatly appreciated by everyone who knows him. He is very deserving of this recognition!” added Nelsen.
You can learn more about AgriGrowth, its members and the Ag & Food Summit at agrigrowth.org.
