MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State University’s College of Agriculture awarded the Distinguished Service in Agriculture honor to a Kansas man who helped mold an international business from modest beginnings in Manhattan, Kan.

Donald Wissman, who retired as chairman of the board of DPRA, Inc. in 1998, received the award May 23. Manhattan-based DPRA specializes in agricultural economics consulting.

Wissman received the Distinguished Service in Agriculture award for extension and international agriculture.

Wissman served as chairman of DPRA from 1987 to 1998, during which time the business grew from a single office in Manhattan to several offices around the world. Wissman managed projects in 17 countries, including several in Kenya, Brazil, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and India.

He was involved with such environmental issues as waste-site cleanup and pollution prevention; water quality; wastewater treatment; and economic impacts of government regulatory programs.

He was also a founding member of the Grain Industry Alliance, a not-for-profit consortium of the American Institute of Baking, Kansas State University, DPRA and the U.S. Grain Marketing and Production Research Center. He was president of that organization from 1996 to 1998.

Wissman grew up on a dairy farm in Michigan and earned bachelor’s and master degrees from Michigan State University. Between degrees, he was a farm youth delegate in Australia, and served three years as a captain in the United States Air Force.

In 1983, he also received the doctoral degree in agricultural economics from K-State.