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.
2023 Sunflower Award Winner
Dave Warrington

Dave Warrington

Our 2023 Sunflower Award winner started his career in our industry nearly 50 years ago as a grain merchandiser in Decatur, Illinois after graduating from Millikin University with a business administration degree in 1974.

Early in his career, he was instrumental in Archer Daniels Midland’s successful expansion and acquisitions of Smoot Grain Company and Collingwood Grain in the late 1970s and 1980s.

In April of 1997, he was asked to join ADM’s milling division in Overland Park as their cash wheat procurement specialist for all of the ADM milling flour mills. During this time, he was also active with the Kansas City Board of Trade as well as ADM Milling, handling risk management of wheat and flour trading.

In 2001, he became vice president of ADM Milling, leading the organization in wheat procurement and risk management, a position he held for more than a decade before retiring in May of 2012.

During his career, he was, and still is, an articulate, in-depth intellectual, serving as a board member of the Kansas City Board of Trade, chairman of our legislative committee and also the chairman of our arbitration committee, chairman of Midwest Management Solutions, a director of two condominium boards, and of course, serving on the Kansas Grain and Feed Association board of directors in the 1990s, with a term as our chairman from 1992-93.

We would like to also recognize and thank his wife, Sue, for covertly putting in the work to provide us with his biography.

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

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