Troy Louwagie, ALC, Recognized with Two Prestigious 2024 RLI APEX Awards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 21, 2025 (Mt. Vernon, IA) – Hertz Farm Management is proud to announce that Troy Louwagie, ALC, has been recognized with two prestigious honors through the REALTORS® Land Institute’s (RLI) 2024 APEX Production Awards Program, sponsored by The Land Report.

Louwagie was named the 2024 APEX Region 7 Broker of the Year in Ag Land Crop Sales, as well as an APEX 2024 Top Twenty National Producer, placing him among the nation’s top-performing land brokers. He was recognized by RLI CEO Aubrie Kobernus, MBA, RCE, along with The Land Report Co-founders Eddie Lee Rider Jr. and Eric O’Keefe, during a special awards ceremony at the 2025 National Land Conference (NLC25) in Tucson, AZ.

“I'm grateful to be recognized among this year's APEX Awards recipients,” said Louwagie upon receiving the recognition. He has been with Hertz Farm Management and Real Estate Services since November 1999 and brings decades of agricultural and real estate experience to his role. An active member of both the Iowa and National Association of REALTORS®, as well as the Iowa and National REALTORS® Land Institute, Louwagie also served as State President of the Iowa RLI Chapter from 2005 to 2006. Prior to joining Hertz, he spent nearly six years as an Agricultural Loan Officer at Farmers & Merchants Savings Bank in Manchester, Iowa. Raised on a livestock farm in northwest Iowa, Louwagie has a lifelong connection to agriculture, earning his Iowa FFA Degree and participating actively in 4-H during his youth.

“We are proud of Troy and all of our Hertz land professionals helping farmland owners,” said Hertz Farm Management CEO Chad Hertz, AFM. “Their dedication and professionalism make them some of the best people to work with in the land real estate business.”

Now in its eighth year, the APEX Awards Program welcomed 255 applicants in 2024, totaling over $8.9 billion in qualifying transaction volume, 9,255 transaction sides, and 1.2 million acres sold. All recognized land professionals are active RLI members and leaders in the industry.

To learn more about the award winners, pick up the Spring 2025 issue of The Land Report, a leading publication for landowners and professionals. All land real estate professionals are invited to apply for the 2025 APEX Awards starting December 2025. Winners will be honored at RLI’s 2026 National Land Conference next March in San Antonio, TX. Learn more at rliland.com.

Founded in 1946, Hertz Farm Management is the premier farmland asset management company in the Midwest. It specializes in professional farm management, farm real estate sales, farmland auctions (live and online), land acquisitions, and farm appraisals. With 14 offices throughout the Midwest, Hertz manages over 3,000 farms consisting of more than 664,000 acres. In 2024, Hertz sold over 38,000 acres of farmland valued at over $441 million. For more information, visit www.hertz.ag.   

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