Jay Sehgal receiving the award on behalf of the Sehgal Froundation from Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey on March 7.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Diya TV) — The Des Moines-based Sehgal Foundation was named the winner of the fifth annual Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Leader Award for Outstanding Service in Agriculture.

Jay Sehgal, a trustee of the foundation, accepted the award on behalf of his counterparts from Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey at the Iowa Agricultural Leaders Dinner.

A creation of Northey, the Agriculture Leader Awards have the ultimate goal of honoring and celebrating Iowa citizens, companies, and organizations that have contributed to Iowa’s agriculture industry in leadership roles in innovation, conservation, service, and collaboration. The Sehgal Foundation was founded by prominent Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist Suri Sehgal and his wife, Edda.

With the help of its strong partnerships, the Sehgal Foundation merges the best from India and Iowa to design and promote rural development interventions that create opportunities, build resilience, and provide solutions to some of the most pressing challenges in India’s poorest communities.

Working with communities, the foundation creates and implements programs that increase agricultural productivity, manage water resources, strengthen rural governance, and empower the poor, especially women, Jay said.

The foundation’s endowment partnership with Iowa State University has brought students from India, Nepal and Bhutan to the Hawkeye state. A partnership with the University of Iowa’s WINTERIM program has brought engineering students to India to study groundwater salinity, and another with the World Food Prize has brought interns to India each year.