Jasper County resident receives top honor from national FFA

Bob Leonard has dedicated his life to agriculture.

The 86-year-old Mingo man is being honored for this dedication as one of this year’s recipients of the Honorary American FFA Degree. It is the highest award any FFA member can achieve and Leonard is happy to have been honored this year, though he has almost given up on it.

“I was asked to fill out an application by a friend. I hadn’t heard anything for a long time and I decided it just wasn’t going to make it. Then I got the notice that it did make it. I feel good about that,” he said.

The FFA website says the Honorary American FFA Degree is given to “individuals who have provided exceptional service on a national level to agriculture, agricultural education or FFA are eligible for the Honorary American FFA Degree. Additionally, teachers who have created high-quality agricultural education programs which inspire and motivate their students to strive for success are eligible.”

Leonard is a perfect fit for these qualifications as he has a rich background in agriculture education first at Mingo High School and then at Colfax-Mingo when the schools consolidated in 1985.

He didn’t just land in Jasper County by accident, Leonard grew up in Mingo and after receiving his college degree from Iowa State University, he returned to Mingo to his family farm and started teaching vocational agriculture at the same high school from which he graduated.

“I thought it would be kinda nice to be able to come back and farm, but then our home farm wasn’t that large so I started taking courses in education,” Leonard said. “I just started teaching there and it turned into a career.”

He retired from teaching in 1991 but has remained active in the county and state agricultural field.

Leonard has been active in FFA and 4-H at the county and state level for many years. He has judged many exhibits and also served as a supervisor at the Iowa State Fair FFA demonstrations. In addition, he was also a safety judge for the Ag Mechanics Exhibits at the Iowa State Fair.

He was also active in the Iowa Department of Education Agriculture groups and also held different officer positions in the Iowa Ag Teachers Association including president. He attended national and regional conferences which he enjoyed attending and getting to know others in the field.

“Those were a lot of fun. You got to know people from other states and bring home ideas, share ideas, that type of thing,” Leonard said.

This year’s FFA convention began Tuesday, Oct. 27 through Oct. 29 and most of the activities took place virtually because of the ongoing health crisis. Leonard received his award via Zoom and the virtual ceremony was broadcast on RFD-TV. He still felt like he wanted to go to the convention in Texas but ultimately, he was going to have to “sit this one out.”

Only 30 people from all of the country received the Honorary American FFA Degree this year. Each will be honored virtually, just like Leonard, throughout the convention.

Leonard will always have a big place in his heart for the FFA, and he feels honored to receive this distinction from the national organization.

“It’s a culmination of a lifetime of being active in the activities of the FFA,” Leonard said.

Contact Pam Pratt at
641-792-3121 ext. 6530 or pampratt@newtondailynews.com