Glen Klippenstein of Maysville, Missouri will be honored with the Cattlemen’s Beef Board’s sixth annual Beef Checkoff Visionary Award on Tuesday, July 14, during the Checkoff Highlights Session at the 2026 Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting in Denver, Colorado. This award recognizes an individual in the beef industry who has demonstrated exemplary support of and commitment to the Checkoff’s goals and vision.
“Glen is one of the true Beef Checkoff pioneers,” said Cheryl DeVuyst, 2026 chair of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. “He’s a lifelong cattleman, and he stepped up when he saw beef demand declining in the 1970s and 1980s. Glen’s ideas and achievements changed our industry for the better in so many ways, and he truly deserves this year’s Beef Checkoff Visionary Award.”
Born on a diversified crop and livestock farm in Saskatchewan, Canada, Klippenstein and his family moved to Pennsylvania in 1948. After graduating as the valedictorian of his high school class, Klippenstein studied at Penn State University under the mentorship of famous cattleman and professor Herman Purdy, a farm adviser to then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower. After graduating from Penn State, Klippenstein farmed in Pennsylvania for several years and started to build a herd of high-quality Hereford cattle. During this time, Klippenstein met his future wife, Linda.
In 1966, Klippenstein forged a partnership with his friend Kirk Pendleton. The new venture prompted the Klippensteins to move their family and farm from Pennsylvania to Maysville, Missouri, where Klippenstein and Pendleton launched Glenkirk Farms. Over the next 28 years, Klippenstein’s work in Hereford breeding made a tremendous impact. He sold approximately 7,000 bulls, 7,000 females and tens of thousands of units of semen to 22 countries. During that time, Klippenstein also imported some of the first fullblood Simmental cattle into the United States.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Klippenstein saw beef demand declining and strongly believed the industry needed to take action. He and other producers began to push for a $1-per-head national Beef Checkoff. Klippenstein served as one of the original members of the Beef Board, which held its first meeting in the fall of 1986.
“We were losing producers like crazy,” Klippenstein recalled back in 1990-1991. “So, we took the bull by the horns. And we got Congress to help us, which they finally did through legislation. And a whole checkoff program was begun.”
As chair of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board in 1990-1991, Klippenstein helped establish the rigorous financial and auditing practices that continue to ensure Beef Checkoff funds are used appropriately. Those practices are still in use today, including rules that Checkoff contractors cannot make a profit from their work or use any funding for political purposes. Klippenstein’s innovative spirit also contributed to the development of Checkoff programs aimed at consistently providing consumers with high-quality beef.
In addition to his years spent on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, including as the 1990-1991 chair, Klippenstein’s years of service in the cattle industry include a term as chair of the American Polled Hereford Association, six years as director of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and nine years as CEO of the American Chianina Association. His influence stretched beyond the cattle industry when he served as a Missouri State Senator from 1993 through 1994. He returned to the legislature as a Missouri State Representative from 2010 through 2012. During his years in office, Klippenstein consistently educated fellow lawmakers and constituents about the value of agriculture.
Today, Klippenstein and his wife Linda have four children and nine grandchildren. He and his son Brian continue to actively manage a small Hereford herd near Maysville, Missouri.
“Glen is a prime example of a true cattleman who saw an opportunity to step up for his industry,” said Greg Hanes, CEO of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. “He’s been absolutely tireless over the years, between raising great cattle and sharing his love and respect for agriculture. All of us at the Cattlemen’s Beef Board congratulate Glen on yet another achievement as he receives the 2026 Beef Checkoff Visionary Award.”
For more information about the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, the Beef Checkoff and its programs – consumer information, foreign marketing, industry information, producer communications, promotion and research – visit DrivingDemandforBeef.com.
