PRESS RELEASE: Women in Agribusiness Names 2026 Demeter Award of Excellence Recipients
- 41 minutes ago
- 5 min read
NEW ORLEANS, August 18, 2026 – Women in Agribusiness (WIA) today announced the 2026 recipients of the WIA Demeter Award of Excellence, the organization's highest honor recognizing women who have demonstrated exceptional performance and made an outstanding contribution to agribusiness.
This year's honorees are Krysta Harden, president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council; Dr. Magan Lewis, senior director of Innovation & Enterprise Operations at Bayer Crop Science; Emily Metz, president and CEO of the American Egg Board; and in the new “Female Farmer of the Year” category in celebration of the International Year of the Woman Farmer (IYWF), is Terri Hawbaker, owner of Grazeway Dairy Farms.
Now in its 14th year, the Demeter Award — named for the Greek goddess of the harvest — has recognized more than 40 women for their exceptional professional achievements and their role in advancing opportunities for women across the food and agriculture value chain.
This year's four honorees were selected from a competitive field of nominations, some accompanied by multiple letters of recommendation from colleagues and peers. The recipients will be recognized on stage at the 2026 Women in Agribusiness Summit, to be held September 22–24 in New Orleans.
"This year's award drew more than 60 nominations — with some individuals nominated as many as five times — making the judging board's task of narrowing the field to just four honorees an incredibly difficult one," said Svitlana Synkovska, portfolio director for Women in Agribusiness. "These women represent the very best of talent and accomplishment in agriculture, and we're thrilled to celebrate their achievements alongside peers and hundreds of others from across the ag value chain. Congratulations to all our recipients and nominees alike."
Krysta Harden of New Alexandria, Virginia, is president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), the first woman to lead the organization, directing global strategy that helped push U.S. dairy exports to roughly $9.6 billion in 2025. The daughter of southwest Georgia peanut farmers, she has spent more than four decades at the intersection of agriculture, sustainability, and public policy. She previously served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, leading a 100,000-plus workforce and overseeing the 2014 Farm Bill, then as chief sustainability officer at Corteva and DuPont, and executive VP at Dairy Management Inc.
A longtime advocate for women in agriculture, she championed modernizing the U.S. Census of Agriculture, launched USDA's Women in Agriculture Mentoring Network, and helped drive the UN's designation of 2026 as the International Year of the Woman Farmer. She hosts USDEC’s video podcast, "Voices from the Barn," which has reached 7,000-plus listeners. She serves on multiple national boards and is a National 4-H Hall of Fame inductee.
____________________________________
Terri Hawbaker built Grazeway Dairy Farms in Pewamo, Michigan, from the ground up in 2002 with her late husband, Rick, growing it into a diversified 337-acre operation with a 150-cow milking herd, 70 replacement cattle, and grass-finished beef. Her innovative seasonal, pasture-based dairy model has cut costs and boosted sustainability, earning many Grade A Perfect Score awards, two Outstanding Performance awards, four Bronze Quality awards, national media coverage including USA Today, and honors like the Outstanding Young Dairy Cooperator and Young Farmer Achievement Award.
For the past decade she has raised and homeschooled her five children as a widow while growing the business. She also extends her impact industry-wide through mentorship — hosting grazing and conservation field days, training international agricultural fellows, and serving in leadership roles with the American Forage and Grasslands Council, Michigan Forage Council, Michigan Milk Producers Association, and GreenStone Farm Credit Services.
____________________________________
Dr. Magan Lewis, of the Des Moines, Iowa, area, is senior director of Innovation & Enterprise Operations with Bayer Crop Science, working at the intersection of science, technology, and leadership. With a Ph.D. in plant breeding and genetics, and more than 15 years of experience spanning Corteva Agriscience and Bayer Crop Science, she has led large, diverse teams through organizational transformation, delivering measurable gains in efficiency and productivity while building inclusive, resilient cultures. She's recognized for embedding continuous improvement into how teams innovate and collaborate, and for developing leaders and high-performing teams that thrive under her influence.
Beyond her enterprise role, Lewis is widely recognized for transforming access to STEM education for future generations. For more than two decades, she has championed science literacy, mentorship, and the advancement of women in agriculture, helping develop future leaders through board service, workforce development initiatives, and global advocacy efforts. As an AAAS IF/THEN® Ambassador, she has become a national advocate for women in STEM, inspiring future generations to dream bigger and achieve more.
____________________________________
Emily Metz, based in the Seattle, Washington, area, has led the American Egg Board (AEB) as president and CEO since 2020, becoming one of the youngest CEOs in U.S. agricultural commodities at age 32. A lawyer by training, she entered agriculture through a USDA internship traveling with then-Under Secretary Dr. Richard Raymond to meet the farmers who produce our food. Within her first 90 days at AEB, she rebuilt its strategic framework around advanced analytics and consumer insight, now delivering more than $10 in net industry revenue per dollar invested.
Her leadership was tested in 2025 as avian influenza and price volatility drew scrutiny to the egg industry. During this highly volatile period, she led the industry’s first national crisis response, generating more than 2,500 earned media placements and contributing to a 20-point increase in positive sentiment while consumer trust in eggs and egg farmers held steady. She also launched the Eggcelerator Lab™, the industry's first innovation center, yielding a patented foodservice technology and countless new egg menu items and CPG goods. She previously served at the National Milk Producers Federation, Genus Plc, and the Animal Agriculture Alliance.
____________________________________
For more in-depth profiles of each Demeter Award recipient, please visit our website.
# # #
About the WIA Demeter Award of Excellence
Each year, three exceptional women in agribusiness are selected from dozens of nominations submitted by peers, colleagues and self-nominators to receive the prestigious WIA Demeter Award of Excellence. Candidates must have a minimum of 10 years of experience in the agriculture and/or food industry, a record of notable professional achievement, and a demonstrated commitment to serving as a role model and resource for other women in the industry. For 2026, a fourth category of Female Farmer was added to recognize the International Year of the Woman Farmer. WIA collaborated in promoting and selecting this recipient with the American Farm Bureau Federation. Recipients of the WIA Demeter Award are honored on stage each September at the annual Women in Agribusiness Summit.
About Women in Agribusiness
Women in Agribusiness (WIA) is dedicated to the education, empowerment and connection of women across the agriculture and food value chain. Through its annual Summit, awards programs and scholarship initiatives, WIA champions the achievements of women in the industry and supports the next generation of agribusiness leaders. www.womeninag.com
Media Contact:
Michelle Pelletier Marshall
Senior PR Manager/Managing Editor
+1.978.790.0565
