Lloyd Sommerville, a Mesa County farmer-feeder, has been praised for his stewardship of the land and award-winning corn and sugar beet crops. Sommerville helped rebuild the Mesa County Farm Bureau, where he served as president for two years. He served on the Colorado Farm Bureau Board of Directors and was president from 1957-1974. In 1974, Sommerville received the Farm Bureau's Service to Agriculture Award. Sommerville served as executive director of the Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service from 1981 to 1993. In that position, he worked extensively to protect agricultural producers from eminent domain and devastating agricultural land tax increases in the 1960s.