Rural entrepreneurs and organizations to be honored for outstanding work
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Growth, innovation and service are among the hallmarks of the businesses and organizations to be honored by K-State’s Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development as the 2026 Huck Boyd Leaders of the Year.
Winners in six categories of rural work will receive awards on Tuesday, Sept.22 at the Kansas Department of Agriculture offices, located at 1320 Research Park Drive in Manhattan.
This year’s award winners include:
Community Service — John Fitzthum, Community HealthCare System, drone delivery, Onaga.
Tourism — John and Shelley Gardner, Pumpkin Pants Ranch, Arkansas City.
Business and Entrepreneurship — Ellie, Jimbob, and Jeannine Bowman, Prickly Pear Farm and Home, Kinsley.
Craftsmanship and Manufacturing — Kendra Riley and Rose Ann Riley, The West Riley, Dexter.
Agribusiness — Dave McCarty and family, McCarty Dairy, Rexford.
Value-Added Agriculture Marketing — John and Janie Kramer and family, J-Six Enterprises, Seneca.
“We congratulate these winners for their hard work, dedication and impact in the rural communities of our state and beyond,” said Abigail Horn, an attorney at Sebelius, Griffiths & Horn LLP in Norton and chair of the Huck Boyd Institute Board of Directors.
John Fitzhum, Onaga
The Community HealthCare System of northeast Kansas serves multiple rural communities in the region, so system CEO John Fitzhum was excited to learn about a pilot project to test drone delivery of medical supplies between facilities.
The test was proposed by Kelly Hills Unmanned Systems and the Kansas Department of Transportation. In August 2025, a drone flawlessly delivered its payload from the Heinen Brothers Airfield near Seneca to the airport near the Onaga hospital. It was the state’s first-ever long-range drone delivery of medical supplies.
John and Shelley Gardner, Arkansas City
When John and Shelley Gardner’s boys were little, they enjoyed taking them to pumpkin patches in the fall. The idea to open a pumpkin patch of their own was an encore career plan.
In addition to pumpkins, the patch has grown to include more than 30 different attractions and activities for kids and families. The patch also hosts an Easter Egg hunt in the spring and a very large Christmas festival during the winter holidays.
Ellie, Jimbob, and Jeannine Bowman, Kinsley
Ellie Bowman graduated from Kansas State University and then had the opportunity to buy the lumber yard in Kinsley, near her hometown. With support from her parents, she purchased the store and reopened it as Prickly Pear Farm and Home. The store doubled its business in the first year.
Bowman was recognized by the Kansas Department of Commerce in the 2024 To The Stars awards as the Under 30 Entrepreneur of the Year.
Kendra Riley and Rose Ann Riley, Dexter
After Kendra Riley’s grandfather passed, she moved into his place and joined her mother Rose Ann Riley in a custom upholstery, antique/vintage furniture, and home décor business. They purchased a dilapidated building in their hometown of Dexter and renovated it to become their storefront.
One of their specialties is to re-upholster and restore antique pieces of furniture. They have shipped products from Tennessee to California.
Dave McCarty and family, Rexford
The McCarty family relocated their dairy from Pennsylvania and opened it in northwest Kansas in 2000. Today, the multi-generational McCarty Family Farms includes five dairies, a milk condensing plant and a grain storage facility, as well as 230 employees and more than 32,000 animals.
The family also opened the Judy McCarty Dairy Learning Center, with the stated purpose of “sharing milk’s journey from soil to yogurt cup with people of all ages.” In 2025, McCarty Family Farms was honored as the World Dairy Expo Dairy Producers of the Year.
John and Janie Kramer and family, Seneca
John Kramer had the goal of building an agricultural business so that his children and grandchildren could have a career in agriculture if they chose.
In 1971, he and his wife began pork production in northeast Kansas with 30 pigs. He grew and diversified the enterprises through the years as the next generation joined the business.
Today, J-Six Enterprises offers a host of value-added agricultural products and services ranging from pork production to trucking and processing and much more. The company employs around 700 people in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.
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The 2026 Huck Boyd Leaders of the Year winners were selected by entrepreneurship students in K-State’s College of Business and by agricultural communications students in K-State’s College of Agriculture.
Each year, the Huck Boyd Institute selects its leaders of the year from among those featured previously on its weekly Kansas Profile radio program and column. Kansas Profile is distributed by the K-State Radio Network and the K-State Extension news service to radio stations and newspapers state-wide.
The Huck Boyd Institute is a public/private partnership between K-State Extension and the Huck Boyd Foundation. The Foundation office is at the Huck Boyd Community Center in Phillipsburg. The Institute office is at Kansas State University in Manhattan.
