Stephen Darling, of Ettrick, and Gary Bennetts, of Roxburgh, were both awarded lifetime memberships to Horticulture New Zealand for their dedication to the industry.
Mr Darling was given his at a conference in Tauranga last week, but Mr Bennetts was cycling through Asia.
Mr Darling and his wife Sally grow about 60ha of apples and stone fruit and pack produce for other orchards in the area.
He has also been active on the board for Pipfruit New Zealand.
He was ''quite thrilled'' to be awarded the honour.
The area's horticulture industry was experiencing an ''expansion phase'', he said.
''It's growing and is going to increase employment and opportunity for the region. It's quite exciting I think.''
''It's a dynamic career. The rate of innovation and change is advancing quickly.
''Fruit growing is no longer about picking fruit and putting it in a box. It's about managing changing technology to produce top quality food products for people around the world.''
Mr Bennetts is a fifth generation grower who runs a stone fruit orchard and packhouse in Roxburgh and was Summerfruit New Zealand chairman for eight years.
In recent years he has been involved with Central Otago Premium Fruit Ltd which aims to market the region's cherries to Chinese markets as a high-end product.
He could not be contacted yesterday.
The life memberships are given to one person each year, unless there are ''exceptional circumstances''.
Horticulture New Zealand president Julian Raine said both men received the award because they both gave a lifetime to the industry, but in different ways.
''Stephen is able to distil issues and then tackle them. I also don't think people realise how isolated Otago is. He'd get up at 4am to go to industry meetings.
''Gary's ability is around being a people person. He can get alongside everyone from the prime minister to people further down the tree. He's very persuasive, but in a jolly way.''
