Top of the Morning, Feb. 12, 2023

Jim Rossow, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
·2 min read

Feb. 12---- Congratulations to Russell Buhr, selected this week as The News-Gazette's 2022 Farm Leader of the Year. He's part of a family that has been farming in "the shadow of the Flatville church steeple" for more than 150 years. From grade school (Flatville) to high school (Rantoul) to college (Parkland), he never ventured from Champaign County, where he's still contributing as co-chairman of Rantoul's Half Century of Progress Show.

"This is quite an honor," Buhr said, "because I know all the names that came before me."

We'll tell Buhr's story in a special section that publishes on March 23 in The News-Gazette. On April 3, we'll celebrate the 70-year-old and his family — as well as many past Farm Leaders — at Riggs Beer Co. in Urbana.

For ticket and advertising information, reach out to our Jackie Martin at jmartin@news-gazette.com or 217-351-5275.

— Ag writer Dave Hinton next month will kick off Year 3 of Farm Family of the Week, which again will include radio spots on WHMS 97.5-FM. Email nominations to dhinton@news-gazette.com.

Farm Leaders of the Year

1972 — Lyle E. Grace

1973 — Richard H. Burwash

1973 — Kenneth M. Kesler

1974 — Eugene Curtis

1975 — W. Stanley Wood

1976 — John H. Mathews

1977 — Gerald Compton

1978 — Jay Wallace Rayburn

1979 — Maurice Gordon

1980 — Keith C. Kesler

1981 — W.T. Hodge Jr.

1982 — Eldon Hesterberg

1983 — Charles L. Ehler

1983 — Luke M. Feeney

1984 — Richard C. Rayburn

1985 — Tom Barker

1986 — Paul E. Curtis

1987 — Fred Werts

1988 — W. Stephen Moser

1989 — Linden Warfel

1990 — Lloyde Esry

1991 — John Reifsteck

1992 — Lyle Shields

1993 — Lee Eichhorst

1994 — Jerry Wallace

1995 — Kent Krukewitt

1996 — Donald Wood

1997 — David Downs

1998 — Ray Aden

1999 — John Albin

2000 — Gary Grace, Roger Grace

2001 — Terry Wolf

2002 — Wayne Busboom

2003 — Lowell Heap

2004 — Steve Stierwalt

2005 — John Jay

2006 — Gary Luth

2007 — Dennis Riggs

2008 — Eric Rund

2009 — Paul Compton

2010 — Ronald R. Warfield

2011 — Dale Stierwalt

2012 — Jack Murray

2013 — Gerald Henry

2014 — Rick Nelson

2015 — Chris Hausman

2016 — Mark Pflugmacher

2017 — Jon Schroeder

2018 — Dan Schaefer

2019 — Laverl Byers

2020 — Ken Dalenberg

2021 — Stan Harper

2022 — Russel Buhr