The American Bankers Association has announced the recipients of both the Bruning and Blanchfield Awards, the association’s premier awards presented for contributions to ag banking. Fred Bruning, CEO of Bruning State Bank in Bruning, Neb., will receive the Bruning Award (named after his father, Nebraska banker Frank Bruning), and Purdue University ag economics emeritus professor Freddie Barnard will be given the Blanchfield Award. Both awards will be presented at the ABA National Agricultural Bankers Conference, Nov. 11-14 in Omaha, Neb.
Bruning — a fourth-generation banker serving at his family-owned, ag-focused bank for the past 27 years — is being recognized for his leadership and outstanding dedication to providing credit and financial guidance to farmers, ranchers and businesses in rural America. Among his many notable accomplishments, Bruning created the ag banking and finance major at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, which has helped bring more young people into ag banking.
Barnard will be recognized with the fourth annual Blanchfield Award for contributions of a non-banker to ag and rural banking. Through his work at Purdue University, Barnard has taught agribusiness management to more than 4,000 students spoken at hundreds of conferences and industry events and lent his expertise to numerous agricultural organizations, including the Midwest Agricultural Banking School.
