Swanson given National Sunflower Association Gold Award

John Swanson has been named the 2018 NSA Gold Award winner. Swanson has worked in the sunflower industry for over 45 years. He began his sunflower career in 1971 as a production field man for Dahlgren and Co. He also worked as the domestic and international salesman of edible sunflower, new product development manager and general manager of the planting seed division. In 1993, when the Dahlgren seed division was sold, John joined Croplan Genetics (Land O’Lakes) where he worked until retirement as the first and only sunflower product manager. Swanson served on the NSA Board of Directors for 12 years as secretary/treasurer. He is currently finishing his last term as chairman of the Minnesota Sunflower Council. The NSA Board of Directors selected Swanson for the award at its recent meeting last. They’ll present Swanson with the award at the summer seminar, which will be held at Arrowwood Resort in Alexandria, Minnesota.