Paul A. Batcheller Memorial Scholarship


Although Paul Batcheller’s formal education ended when he graduated from high school in 1926 in Yankton County, South Dakota, he went on to found and build a successful Great Plains feed manufacturing company.  During his career, he also gave generously of his time to his community, state and country.

He served as president of the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, the United Way, Sioux Valley Hospital, the YMCA, and helped found the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.  He was president of the Livestock Expansion Foundation, the South Dakota Master Pork Producers and the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce.  Nationally, he was vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a director of the American Feed Manufacturers Association and served as the general chairman of the 1964 National Corn Picking contest.  JFK appointed him to the White House Food for Peace Council in 1961.

SDSU recognized Batcheller by naming him its Distinguished Non-Alum in 1975 and awarding him an honorary Doctor of Agriculture degree in 1978.  In 1991, he was named to the South Dakota Hall of Fame.

The purpose of the Paul A. Batcheller Memorial Endowment is to encourage and stimulate interest in the agricultural sciences, particularly in those pursuits relating to the production of livestock or poultry in South Dakota by providing scholarship assistance to students at SDSU.