The Sunflower Award is Kansas Grain and Feed Association’s most prestigious award given annually to recognize someone who has made a significant and notable contribution to our industry and/or our association. The contribution may be of scientific achievement, marketing, engineering, transportation or management, but it is not limited to these specifically.
2025 Sunflower Award Winner
Gary Gantz

Gary Gantz

Our 2025 winner is a former board member, chairman and longtime supporter of our association throughout his nearly 50 years in the industry.

After graduating from Kansas State University in 1979, he returned to his hometown to play an integral role in growing what was a 1.2 million bushel country grain elevator to what is now a licensed 5.54 million bushel company with four country elevator locations. He’s also overseen the additions of a farm store, feed mill, agronomy department, bulk fuel delivery, a fuel station and a sporting goods store.

Despite the heavy-lift of working to expand the organization into what it is today, he managed to find time to join the KGFA board of directors in 1999 and served a two-year term as our association’s chairman from 2009 to 2011.

After 12 years working on behalf of Kansas grain companies, he expanded his focus to the national level by serving on the National Grain and Feed Association’s board of directors from 2011 to 2025.

Born on December 30, 1955 in Ness City, Kansas, and a staple in the community ever since, our 2025 Sunflower Award winner, Gary Gantz, has spent more than four decades serving the Ness City community.

Gary and his wife, Jodi, have three sons, Wade, Colby and Dalton. Much like Gary did with his own father, Bob, Colby and Dalton now work alongside their dad at D.E. Bondurant Grain.

Bob, who also was the KGFA chairman from 1962 to 1964, earned the Sunflower Award for his achievements and contribution to our association nearly 20 years ago.

In 2007, when we awarded Bob with the Sunflower Award, we asked Gary to tell us something that epitomized Bob’s business philosophy and Gary said, “If anyone ever made a grain deal with dad, the buyer could rest assured they had the best grain bid that day.”

So, of course, we asked Colby, who helped us put this information together, how he would describe Gary’s business philosophy. He said, “My dad attempts the noble challenge every day of trying to have the best bid around for our producers, while also trying to maximize our grain margins … and everyday he fails.”

Past Sunflower Award Winners

1986 | Frank McBride
1987 | Bill Morand
1988 | Dr. Robert Schoeff
1989 | Arch DeBruce
1990 | Jerry Schweitzer
1991 | Milton Morrison
1992 | John Cranor
1993 | Delbert Bosley
1994 | Jimmie Dean
1995 | Jim Otto

1996 | Lucille Severe
1997 | Ed Dwyer
1998 | Clayton Mantz
1999 | S. Dean Evans
2000 | Gary Bothwell
2001 | Ron Stucky
2002 | Mike Braude
2003 | Don Timmel
2004 | Brendon Donnelly
2005 | Barry Flinchbaugh

2006 | Robert Dole
2007 | Robert Gantz
2008 | Fred Norwood
2009 | Jan Moyer
2011 | Gary Mundhenke
2012 | Paul DeBruce
2013 | Charles R. “Dick” Webb
2014 | Jeff C. Borchardt
2015 | Thomas E. Meyer
2016 | Charles “Dub” Johnson

2017 | Lowell Downey
2017 | Tom Tunnell
2018 | Chuck Elsea
2019 | Pat Roberts
2020 | Duane Boyd
2021 | John Petz
2022 | Gary Beachner
2023 | Dave Warrington
2024 | Russ Ronnebaum
2025 | Gary Gantz

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