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Story by Lura Roti

Jeff Lakner was determined to attend �ձ�av��Ƶ after high school. But his dad didn’t support his decision. 

“My dad was very much opposed because he firmly felt that I would become a farmer,” Lakner recalled. “In fact, he tried to coerce me by offering to buy me a fancy sports car if I did not go to college.” 

Fortunately, Lakner persevered in his decision. In 1978, he graduated with a degree in agricultural business. In the end, Lakner’s decision to attend �ձ�av��Ƶ connected him with people and resources that allowed him to expand his father’s conservation legacy on their family’s Wessington farm. In doing so, Lakner has been able to have a positive impact on future conservation efforts throughout South Dakota and the nation. 

Improving the land was a lifelong focus of Lakner’s dad, Stanlee. It was inspired by a warning from his parents. 

“My grandparents farm was not large enough to support more than one family. So, when my parents married, they found a piece of land to buy. When my grandparents saw the farmland my dad and mom picked out, they said, ‘You will starve there because the land is so poor.’” 

Stanlee Lakner worked to improve the farm’s crop acres and grassland by implementing a crop rotation that included legumes to return nitrogen to the soil. And he installed miles of fencing so he could manage a grazing rotation. 

After college, Jeff Lakner spent a few years working as an ag loan officer before returning to the family farm in 1981. Once home, he expanded his dad’s conservation efforts implementing no-till practices and integrating cattle grazing on crop acres. 

“Livestock have a key role in conservation,” said Lakner, outlining the weed control, natural fertilizer and feed savings that result from postharvest grazing. Over the last 44 years, Lakner and his wife, Myrna, and son, Andrew, and his wife, Marisa, have tripled their cattle numbers. 

“I recently told our family that there will be livestock here as long as I am here because I strongly believe in their environmental benefits,” Lakner said. 

When Andrew returned to the farm from �ձ�av��Ƶ, Lakner supported his son’s efforts to further enhance the conservation legacy of his dad and grandpa. 

“I asked our son where he wanted to see our farm in three years, and he said we needed to up our game where technology was concerned, and we needed to make sure that technology was integrated for conservation efforts as well,” Lakner said. 

They began their journey to integrate precision ag technology across the farm by first understanding the production health of every acre they owned and leased. A longtime Agtegra Cooperative board member, Lakner asked the cooperative to implement precision soil testing to enable mapping of all acres. 

“You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” Lakner explained. 

Land stewardship for the next generation 

Throughout his farming career, Lakner has invested time off the farm to support South Dakota agriculture and conservation through service on many organization boards including the advisory board for the �ձ�av��Ƶ College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. Lakner served on the team instrumental to introduction of the precision agriculture degree at �ձ�av��Ƶ. 

“�ձ�av��Ƶ was the first in the land-grant system to offer a dedicated precision ag degree,” Lakner said. “Research is a force multiplier. �ձ�av��Ƶ plays an important role in the future of land stewardship because when you think of the fragile environment we have here in the Upper Midwest for food production, we need the support and research of the university and its extension system.” 

Lakner Farm has received many awards for efforts in conservation including the title of Top 100 Best Managed Farms in the U.S. In 2021, the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research reached out to Lakner asking him to join its advisory council, which is made up of a small team of Ph.D. researchers. He was also asked to work with the Environmental Defense Fund environmental working group. 

“It is important to have farmers engaged in these organizations because they are long-standing organizations that are global in nature and have access to consumers,” Lakner said. “These organizations care about the environment, which we as farmers are the stewards of every day. And they are well-funded enough that they can communicate these messages to many more people than a farm group can.” 

Celebrate Jeff Lakner During South Dakota’s Eminent Leaders Banquet 

Lakner will be honored for his contributions to South Dakota during the 2025 Eminent Leaders in Agriculture, Family and Community recognition banquet held at McCrory Gardens Education and Visitor Center on the �ձ�av��Ƶ campus Sept. 19. 

Lakner will be honored alongside Wallace Knock, Willow Lake; Reid Christopherson, Garretson, and Greg Moes, Goodwin. During the banquet, portraits of the award recipients will be unveiled. These portraits will be displayed in a virtual gallery. 

Honorees are selected by representatives of the �ձ�av��Ƶ colleges of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences and Education and Human Sciences. 

To attend the Sept. 19 recognition banquet and program, . Tickets need to be purchased on or before Sept. 5. The reception begins at 5:30 p.m. followed by a recognition program and banquet at 6:30 p.m. 

To learn more about the award or to nominate an individual, contact Angela Loftesness, Eminent Leaders in Agriculture, Family and Community program chair, via email or 605-688-6732.