AMES, Iowa -- Mike Duffy, an Iowa State University professor of economics, will be presented the Distinguished Service Award this summer by the American Agricultural Editors' Association.
"Mike's leadership in helping beginning farmers for nearly 20 years has helped to facilitate the transfer and transition of farm operations between multiple generations," said Dan Zinkand, an agricultural journalist and AAEA member who led Duffy's nomination effort.
Duffy served as director of Iowa State's Beginning Farmer Center from its creation by the Iowa Legislature in 1994 through the end of 2012.
"The center may be unique in the nation, and Mike's expertise and management has been influential not only in Iowa, but also to farm families nationwide in thinking differently and smartly about inheritance, succession and retirement," said Zinkand.
Duffy joined Iowa State in 1984 as an extension farm management field specialist and began as an economics department faculty member in 1985. He earned a doctorate in agricultural economics from Pennsylvania State University in 1981, a master's degree in agricultural economics and a bachelor's degree in natural resources, parks and recreation management from the University of Nebraska in 1977 and 1975.
He is an expert in Iowa land valuation having coordinated the annual Iowa State land value survey for 27 years, and conducts the Iowa Land Ownership survey. Duffy also serves as administrator for the ISU Extension Farm Financial Management Program and director of graduate education for the Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture.
The AAEA, a professional organization of communicators in agriculture media, will present the award to Duffy at the Agricultural Media Summit this August in Buffalo, N.Y.