By Tanner Hood

Young Farmers and Women’s Leadership delegates focused on the future as they rallied to elect state committee leaders at the Alabama Farmers Federation 104th annual meeting in Montgomery Dec. 7-8. 

Morgan County’s Forrest Anders was selected to lead the State Young Farmers Committee and reelected to serve District 1, while Cullman County’s Lisa Lake was elected State Women’s Leadership Committee (WLC) chair. 

As committee chairs, Anders and Lake will serve one-year, ex-officio terms on the Federation state board. 

Dixie Black of Butler County was elected WLC vice chair and reelected to serve Region 3. Montgomery County’s Amy Belcher was elected secretary.

Caitlin Carpenter of Talladega County was chosen to serve Region 2, which includes Autauga, Bibb, Calhoun, Chilton, Clay, Cleburne, Fayette, Greene, Jefferson, Lamar, Pickens, Randolph, Shelby, St. Clair, Talladega, Tuscaloosa and Walker counties. 

Black’s Region 3 includes Baldwin, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Dallas, Escambia, Hale, Lowndes, Marengo, Mobile, Monroe, Montgomery, Perry, Sumter, Washington and Wilcox counties. 

Elmore County’s Melissa Palmer was elected to represent Region 4, which includes Barbour, Bullock, Chambers, Coffee, Coosa, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Elmore, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Lee, Macon, Pike, Russell and Tallapoosa counties. 

The Women’s Leadership Division also recognized one outstanding committee from each region. Those were Lawrence, Lamar, Monroe and Coffee counties. 

Awards of Excellence were given to 43 county committees. Those were Autauga, Blount, Butler, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Choctaw, Clarke, Clay, Cleburne, Coffee, Coosa, Covington, Crenshaw, Cullman, Dale, DeKalb, Elmore, Fayette, Franklin, Geneva, Houston, Jefferson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Lee, Limestone, Marshall, Mobile, Monroe, Montgomery, Pike, Randolph, Russell, Shelby, St. Clair, Sumter, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, Wilcox and Winston counties.

Young Farmers delegates, who are ages 18 to 35, also chose state committee leaders.

Joining Anders is Cal Logan of Greene County as vice chair and Baldwin County’s Trey Colley as secretary. 

Jordyn Upchurch of Clay County was reelected to serve District 3. This includes Calhoun, Clay, Cleburne, Coosa, Randolph, Shelby, Talladega and Tallapoosa counties.

Sumter County’s KoryAnn Watt was elected to serve District 5, which covers Choctaw, Dallas, Lowndes, Marengo, Perry, Sumter and Wilcox counties. 

Shelby Easterling of Barbour County was selected to serve District 7. The area includes Barbour, Coffee, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston and Pike counties. 

Representing the South At-Large is Autauga County’s Ellie Watson. This region includes Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Chambers, Chilton, Choctaw, Clarke, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Dallas, Elmore, Escambia, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Mobile, Monroe, Montgomery, Perry, Pike, Russell, Sumter, Washington and Wilcox counties. 

Drew and Lauren Wendland of Autauga County also stepped into ex-officio committee member roles as Alabama’s Outstanding Young Farm Family.

Twenty-six counties were honored for outstanding work and active participation. They were Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Blount, Calhoun, Chambers, Chilton, Clay, Coffee, Cullman, Dale, DeKalb, Henry, Houston, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Lee, Limestone, Marshall, Montgomery, Morgan, Pike, Sumter, Talladega, Tallapoosa and Winston counties. 

 The Escambia County Young Farmers Committee received the Going Beyond Award for educating the next generation through Touch-a-Truck and Corn Camp, plus raising more than $6,800 for Pilots for Christ.