The Kansas Farmers Union honored Dr. Wes Jackson with its 2025 Linda Hessman Lifetime Achievement Award for Service to Rural Kansas at its 118th anniversary convention earlier this winter
Jackson, a prominent environmentalist and plant geneticist, is a 1958 graduate of Kansas Wesleyan, former faculty member and faculty emeritus. A co-founder of The Land Institute in Salina, he is known for his work on developing perennial crops, such as Kernza, a perennial wheat.
鈥淭his is a way to honor him for the work he has done and continues to do,鈥� said Nick Levandofsky, executive director of Kansas Farmers Union.
The award is named for the late Linda Hessman, a longtime board member of Kansas Farmers Union.
The honor is the latest in a list of state, national and international awards. The author of several books, his most recent is 鈥淎n Inconvenient Apocalypse,鈥� written with Robert Jensen.
Jackson was the subject of a 2025 feature-length documentary 鈥淧rairie Prophecy.鈥�
Release by Jean Kozubowski
Photo provided by Kansas Farmers Union
