The Excellence in Agriculture Award is a competitive event for young farmers to earn recognition while also actively contributing and growing through their involvement with agriculture and the Alabama Farmers Federation.

The 2022 Excellence in Agriculture winner will receive a zero-turn mower courtesy of Corteva Agriscience, a computer package from Valcom/CCS Wireless, and an expense-paid trip to the national competition, courtesy of the Alabama Farmers Federation.

The winner from Alabama’s program will compete at the American Farm Bureau Annual Meeting held in San Juan, Puerto Rico in January 2023.

About the Award

During this contest, participants will be judged on:

• Involvement in agriculture
• Leadership ability
• Participation/involvement in the Federation and other organizations (i.e. civic, service, and community)

This competition is designed for individuals or couples who are involved in agriculture, but do not earn more than half their income from production agriculture. Prior competitors have included Agriscience education teachers, Extension agents, NRCS employees, veterinarians, part-time farmers, and ag lenders to name a few.

Eligibility

• An applicant can be either an individual or a couple that is married. Applicant may choose to apply individually, rather than as a couple.
• Applicant(s)shall be an Alabama Farmers Federation member(s)between the ages of 18 and 35 in good standing with his/her county Federation. Applications submitted without membership numbers and/or all signatures will not be accepted.
• The individual or spouse shall not have reached his/her 36thbirthday by Jan. 31, 2023
• Applicant(s)must not have derived a majority of his/her income from an owned production agriculture enterprise in any of the past three years.
• Applicant(s)may only compete in one national YF&R Competitive Event per year.
• Applicant(s) may compete in either the Achievement Award(OYFF)or the Excellence in Agriculture Award, but not both in the same year.
• Past and present members of the AFBF Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee and/or their spouse are not eligible to compete.
• Past state OYFF winners and/or previous AFBF Achievement Award competitors are not eligible to compete.
• Past state Excellence in Agriculture Award winners and/or previous AFBF Excellence in Agriculture Award winners are not eligible to compete.
• Current employees of county, state and/or American Farm Bureaus or the Alabama Farmers Federation and their affiliates are not eligible to compete.

Competition Details

Candidates may compete as a married couple or as an individual. The competition consists of an application, a 15-minute PowerPoint presentation about your application and a 10-minute question and answer session.

Application Deadline

Applications are due June 1, and the competition is held at the Farm and Land Expo in August. The 2022 Excellence in Agriculture winner will receive a zero-turn mower courtesy of Corteva Agriscience, a computer package from Valcom/CCS Wireless and an expense-paid trip to the national competition, courtesy of the Alabama Farmers Federation. Finalists will all receive a prize from the Federation. Applications may be found in the links on the right of this page.