Splanger receives ag service award
Holly Spangler, senior editor of Prairie Farmer magazine and executive editor for Farm Progress Publications, was presented the Service to Agriculture award by the Illinois Society oi Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers during the group’s annual meeting on February 8 in Champaign, IL.
Presenting the honor was Michael Lauher, AFM, vice president of the organization. It is the Chapter’s highest honor to a non-member and has been awarded annually since 1940.
In making the presentation, Lauher noted that Spangler has covered Illinois agriculture for more than two decades, “bringing meaningful production agriculture experience to the magazine’s coverage.” In addition to her Prairie Farm responsibilities, she also manages editorial staff at six magazines throughout the eastern Corn Belt.
She began her career with Prairie Farmer just before graduating from the University of Illinois in agricultural communications.. An award-winning writer and photographer, Sp[angler is past president of the American Agricultural Editors Association.
In 2015, she became only the 10th U.S. agricultural journalist to earn the Writer of Merit designation and is a five-time winner of the top writing award for editorial opinion in U.S. agriculture.
She was named an AAEA Master Writer in 2005. In 2011, Holly was one of 10 recipients worldwide to receive the IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Ag Journalism award. She currently serves on the Illinois Fairgrounds Foundation, the U of I Agricultural Communications Advisory committee, and is an advisory board member for the U of I College of ACES Research Station at Monmouth.
Her work in agricultural media has been recognized by the Illinois Soybean Association, Illinois Corn Growers Association, Illinois Council on Agricultural Education and MidAmerica Croplife Association.
Spangler and her husband, John, farm in western Illinois where they raise corn, soybeans and beef cattle on 2,500 acres. Their operation includes 125 head of commercial cows in a cow/calf operation. The family farm includes John’s parents and their three children.
She is the 4th Prairie Farmer magazine editor to be recognized with the Service to Agriculture citation by the Chapter.. Previous honorees were Paul C. Johnson, 1963, James Thompson, 1981, and Josh Flint, 2014. Other recipients have been agribusiness professionals and leaders, state and Federal officials, farmers and media.
The ISPFMRA is the oldest of the 28 state chapters of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. The Illinois group was founded at the University of Illinois campus in 1928 under the leadership of D. Howard Doane. Current Chapter membership is 262 active members with over 40 ‘friends’ of the Chapter.
