A Butler County farmer recently received the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau’s Distinguished Local Affairs Leader award at the organization’s annual meeting.

Nikole Stuchal of Slippery Rock was the recipient of the Distinguished Local Affairs Leader Award during the organization’s 67th annual meeting at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey from Monday to Wednesday.

The award recognizes an outstanding individual whose local affairs efforts and activities have helped solve problems and improve rural living for county Farm Bureau members.

Stuchal was recognized for her leadership and hard work in promoting a new grain bin rescue program in Butler County, according to a news release from the organization.

Stuchal and her husband, Cory, farm about 2,000 acres of corn, soybeans and other grains in Butler, Mercer and Venango counties and also operate a custom field drainage service in Slippery Rock.

“With a recent increase in the number of larger grain bins going up in our area and more people with access to those bins, we felt it was a perfect time to initiate a bin rescue training program in Butler County,” said Stuchal in the release.

Stuchal was Butler County Farm Bureau’s lead representative in working with volunteer fire companies and emergency medical services personal to educate them about grain bin safety. She worked to organize several educational sessions and on-farm training demonstrations in Butler County. She also was the key source for information about the rescue program to a wide variety of interests, the release states.

“Nikole was the lead spokesperson for the rescue program, reaching out to multiple organizations in Butler County. Her participation in the grain bin events were informative and placed a high priority on promoting farm safety,” said Rick Ebert, PFB president.

Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is the state’s largest farm organization with a volunteer membership of more than 62,000 farm and rural families, representing farms of every size and commodity across Pennsylvania.