Hastings resident Amanda Durow is being recognized for a career that has combined agricultural lending, leadership development and a lifelong connection to Minnesota farming.
Agriculture Future of America selected Durow as one of 30 alumni featured in its Celebrating 30 Voices campaign, an initiative marking the organization’s 30th anniversary. The campaign highlights former participants who have developed careers in food, agriculture and natural resources while continuing to serve the industry and encourage future professionals.
Durow is vice president at CoBank, one of the nation’s largest private providers of credit to the rural economy. Her current work focuses on lending to dairy processing and agribusiness companies, organizations that help move agricultural products from farms into broader markets.
Her professional role is supported by personal experience. Durow and her family are fifth-generation dairy and crop farmers in Minnesota, giving her a direct understanding of the opportunities, pressures and financial realities faced by agricultural producers.
That background has remained central to her work, even as her career has expanded beyond the farm.
Durow earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science, with an emphasis on the dairy industry, and later completed a Master of Business Administration in finance at the University of Minnesota. During her undergraduate years, she participated in Agriculture Future of America programs that she now describes as among the most important leadership experiences of her college career.
“AFA was one of the most impactful leadership opportunities I had in college,” Durow said. “As a student, I had the privilege of earning scholarships for both Track 2 and Track 3. Through AFA, I started building a network, gained greater confidence, and developed practical skills in communication, teamwork, and self-awareness. It stands out as one of the most formative leadership experiences of my college career.”
Agriculture Future of America provides leadership and career development experiences for college students and young professionals interested in food, agriculture and natural resources. Since its founding in 1996, the organization has provided 26,000 leadership development experiences to participants from more than 200 colleges and universities in 49 states.
The organization has also awarded more than $11.5 million in academic and leadership development scholarships. Participation in its programs has increased 28 percent during the past five years.
For Durow, the experience provided more than another activity to add to a college résumé. It introduced her to executives, expanded her understanding of leadership and helped her become more comfortable in professional environments.
“My experience with AFA played a meaningful role in shaping my career journey by giving me early exposure to future leadership opportunities and engaging with executive leaders,” she said. “It helped me build confidence in professional settings, strengthened my communication skills, and showed me the impact strong leadership can have across the agriculture industry.”
Those experiences also helped her identify the kind of work she hoped to pursue.
“That experience ultimately inspired me to pursue a career where I could contribute in a meaningful way and make a lasting impact on agriculture,” Durow said.
One conversation from the program has stayed with her throughout her career. Durow recalled meeting Dan Dye, chief executive officer of Ardent Mills, and being struck by his interest in young agricultural leaders.
“I was incredibly impressed by how much he cared, not just about AFA, but about me and my development as a future leader,” Durow said. “That conversation stood out because it wasn’t transactional, it was a genuine investment in the next generation. It shaped how I think about leadership today and the need to intentionally invest in others.”
That lesson has become part of Durow’s broader view of leadership. Her experience taught her that technical knowledge and professional qualifications are important, but relationships, trust and communication are equally necessary.
“AFA reinforced that communication is everything when it comes to leadership,” she said. “The ability to clearly articulate intent, operate with transparency, and build trust has been critical to my effectiveness in professional settings. Developing these foundational communication skills early in college positioned me for long-term success in my career.”
AFA also broadened Durow’s understanding of the agricultural industry itself.
Growing up on a family farm gave her an important foundation, but it also shaped a relatively narrow view of the careers available in agriculture. Her early exposure came primarily from people who worked directly with the family operation and from an internship at a local CHS location during high school.
“At the time, AFA helped me realize that there were far more career opportunities in agriculture than what I had been exposed to growing up,” Durow said. “My perspective was limited to who visited our family farm and interning at our local CHS location in high school. AFA showed me the depth and diversity of career paths in the industry and helped me see where I could fit and make an impact.”
Durow eventually found that place in agricultural finance.
At CoBank, she works with dairy processors and agribusiness companies that support farmers and rural communities. She previously served as chair of CoBank’s dairy processing and production center of excellence, and she served on the U.S. Dairy Export Council operating committee.
She also remains involved in several agribusiness associations.
Those roles connect different parts of Durow’s background. Her farming experience gives her firsthand knowledge of production agriculture, her animal science education provides an understanding of the dairy industry, and her finance training supports her work with companies making major business and investment decisions.
Her recognition through Celebrating 30 Voices reflects both her professional accomplishments and her continuing involvement in agriculture.
The campaign was created to mark three decades of AFA programs by recognizing alumni who have put leadership principles into practice. The selected participants represent different careers and areas of the agricultural industry, but each was chosen for professional leadership, service and a willingness to help prepare the next generation.
Durow continued her involvement with the organization after graduating from college. She joined the AFA Alliance and served on its planning committee, extending the relationships and leadership development she had begun as a student.
“Right after college, I remained closely connected to AFA through the AFA Alliance, where I served on the planning committee,” Durow said. “That experience was incredibly valuable, it felt like a continuation of AFA and provided a hands-on leadership environment that helped me keep developing as a leader.”
She remained active with the alliance until she shifted her attention toward earning her MBA.
“As I reflect back, AFA Alliance was a mini leadership course in itself,” Durow said.
The continued participation reflects one of the goals of Agriculture Future of America, building connections that last beyond college and helping young professionals continue developing throughout their careers.
For Durow, the recognition is also a reminder of how early leadership opportunities can influence decisions years later. Scholarships allowed her to participate in the organization’s second and third development tracks, where she began building a professional network and strengthening skills she would eventually use in executive meetings, agricultural lending and industry organizations.
Her career has since brought her into conversations about dairy processing, agricultural business operations, rural credit and the future of farming. Yet the leadership principles she identifies as most important remain relatively straightforward, communicate clearly, remain transparent and take a genuine interest in other people.
The lesson she drew from her conversation with Dye, that established leaders should deliberately invest in younger professionals, has continued to shape how she views her own responsibilities.
That focus is especially important in an industry where farms, businesses and agricultural organizations must prepare for generational transitions, changing markets and new technology. Developing strong professionals is part of maintaining the broader agricultural system, from family farms and processors to lenders and trade organizations.
The Celebrating 30 Voices campaign is intended to show that leadership development can have a long reach. A college program may begin with a scholarship, a conference or a conversation, but its influence can continue as participants move into positions where their decisions affect farmers, businesses and rural communities.
Durow summarized that influence by completing a sentence presented to each featured alumnus.
“Because of AFA, I have grown into a stronger leader for agriculture and continue to strive to make a meaningful impact through my work supporting farmers and agribusinesses and driving positive change across the industry,” she said.
For a fifth-generation Minnesota farmer who now helps finance parts of the rural economy, that impact remains tied to both where she came from and where agriculture is headed next.