ABA today announced that John Blanchfield, who was SVP for agricultural and rural banking at ABA for 25 years before retiring in January, will be honored with the first annual Blanchfield Award. He will receive the prize at ABA’s National Agricultural Bankers Conference on Oct. 28 in Kansas City, Mo. The new award — which complements the Bruning Award for lifetime achievement by an ag banker — will honor non-bankers who make major contributions to the ag finance field.
“John has dedicated his career to making the ag banking industry better for bankers and their customers,” said ABA SVP Steve Apodaca. “From providing a national forum for ag bankers to collaborate to consensus building on issues critical to the industry, we believe he deserves recognition at the national level.”
