Bridge Builder Award
About the Bridge Builder Award
Agriculture Future of America (AFA) honors one exceptional alumni each year with the Bridge Builder Award. This prestigious award celebrates those who continue to engage with AFA and are making notable contributions in their careers, communities, or the agriculture, food and natural resources industries.
The Bridge Builder Award not only celebrates our distinguished alumni in the industry but also pays tribute to the core principles upon which AFA was founded. Inspired by the timeless poem "The Bridge Builder" by Will Allen Dromgoole, this award embodies AFA's enduring mission to construct bridges that transcend our programs and experiences. AFA continues to forge connections that inspire and uplift, ensuring that our legacy of bridge-building thrives for generations to come.
2026 Bridge Builder
Nominations are now open for the 2026 AFA Bridge Builder Award.
We are looking for AFA alumni who continue to live out the spirit of bridge-building. These leaders stay connected to AFA, invest in others and make meaningful contributions across their communities and the agriculture industry. Help us recognize an alum who are creating connections, inspiring the next generation and carrying AFA’s mission forward.
Nominations close June 30.
Meet the 2025 AFA Bridge Build Award Winner, Elizabeth Galbreath!
Congratulations to Elizabeth Galbreath, Professional Development Program Manager at BASF, for receiving the Bridge Builder Award at the 2025 Leaders Conference. An AFA alum and a champion for connection in food and agriculture, Elizabeth exemplifies the spirit of mentorship and industry impact.
The Bridge Builder
by Will Allen Domgoole
An old man going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening cold and gray,
To a chasm vast and deep and wide.
Through which was flowing a sullen tide
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting your strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day,
You never again will pass this way;
You’ve crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build this bridge at evening tide?”
The builder lifted his old gray head;
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followed after me to-day
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that has been as naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be;
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him!”