One of the most significant ways to recognize outstanding contributions to the potato industry and to The Potato Association of America, is the awarding of Honorary Life Membership (HLM). This is the highest award bestowed upon an individual by the PAA. Each year at the annual meeting of the PAA this award is given to deserving individuals and is considered by many attendees the highlight of the banquet (new HLMs and their spouses receive complimentary awards banquet tickets the year they are inducted).

1948 No Elections
1977 No Nominees
1984 Robert L. Plaisted
1987 Donald C. Nelson
1988 Robert E. Thornton
1989 Monty D. Harrison
1990 Elmer E. Ewing
1992 Kenneth W. Knutson
1993 Paul H. Orr
1993 Dennis Zeloski
1994 Florian Lauer
1994 Robert L. Sanders
1997 Dale R. Hensel
1998 Ronald D. Offutt
1999 Lind L. Sanford
2000 Ronald E. Voss
2000 Duane A. Preston
2001 Alberto Salas
2001 Hielke "Henry" De Jong
2001 Steven A. Slack
2003 Dennis L. Corsini
2003 D. Pete Weingartner
2004 Oscar A. Gutbrod
2004 Alvin R. Mosley
2004 Mary L. Powelson
2005 George C.C. Tai
2005 Larry K. Binning
2006 Melvin R. Henninger
2006 Melvin E Martin
2006 Harold W. "Bud" Platt
2006 Joe Sowokinos
2007 John P. Helgeson
2007 Gale E. Kleinkopf
2007 Walter R. Stevenson
2008 Keith A. Kelling
2008 Susan B. "Rikki" Sterrett
2009 Dennis Johnson
2009 T. Richard Tarn
2010 Danny C. Hane
2010 David G. Holm
2010 Steven R. James
2011 Gregg Halverson
2011 Larry K. Hiller
2012 Philip B. Hamm
2012 David H. Lambert
2012 Jiwan P. Palta
2013 Joseph F. Guenthner
2013 Robert H. Coffin
2014 Dr. Chuck Brown
2014 Dr. Jim Zalewski
2014 Phillip Nolte
2014 Samuel J. Thornton
2015 Donald Halseth
2015 Gary Secor
2015 Neil C. Gudmestad
2015 Alexander Pavlista
2016 William L. Campbell
2016 Edward C. Lulai
2016 Willem W.M. Schrage
2016 Warren L. Henninger
2017 Allan French
2017 Robert D. Davidson
2017 Jeffrey C. Suttle
2018 Robert "Bob" Hoopes
2018 Norman Richard Knowles
2018 Steve Love
2018 Leigh Morrow 
2019 Kathleen Haynes
2019 John Nordgaard
2019 Nora Olsen
2019 Peter Vander Zaag
2020 Shelley Jansky
2020 John Keeling
2020 Jeff Stark
2020 Richard Veilleux
2021 William H Bohl
2021 David Douches
2021 Steven B Johnson
2021 Robert K Thornton
2022 Russell E Ingham
2022 Gregory Porter
2022 Kenneth Rykbost
2022 Michael Thornton
2023 Andrew Jensen
2023 Carl Rosen
2023 John Bamberg
2023 Richard Novy
2023 Loretta Mikitzel