One couple and three individuals have been selected as Wisconsin Farm Bureau’s Excellence in Ag finalists and will compete in December for the top honor.
The Excellence in Ag award recognizes members of Farm Bureau’s Young Farmer and Agriculturist Program who excel in their leadership abilities, and involvement in agriculture, Farm Bureau and other civic and service organizations.
“Five outstanding agriculture advocates are finalists in this year’s state competition,” said Jim Holte, WFBF President. “This contest highlights these individuals and how they have positively impacted Wisconsin agriculture and Farm Bureau and inspire others to do the same.”
The four finalists are:
- Justin and Livia Doyle of Iowa County. Justin is a high school agriculture/technology education teacher in Darlington and Livia teaches fourth grade in Mineral Point. Together they co-own On Point Auction Service, LLC.
- Ben Huber of Green County. Ben is the Agronomy Department Manager at InSight FS.
- Stephanie Nagel of Manitowoc County. Stephanie is a dairy nutritionist at Rio Creek Feed Mill, Inc.
- Kelly Oudenhoven of Outagamie County. Kelly is a dairy herd manager at Larrand Dairy.
Excellence in Ag award applicants are agriculturists who have not derived a majority of their income from a farm (that they own) for the past three years. Examples of occupations of past finalists include: agricultural education instructor, fertilizer salesperson, veterinarian, farm employee, agricultural writer and marketer.
Farm Bureau’s YFA program is open to members between the ages of 18 and 35.
Each finalist must make a presentation and answer questions in front of a three-judge panel during WFBF’s 2018 Annual Meeting and YFA Conference at the Kalahari Resorts in Wisconsin Dells, November 30-December 2. This year’s state winner will compete at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 2019 Annual Conference in New Orleans.
The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Foundation co-sponsors this contest with GROWMARK Inc. and Rural Mutual Insurance Company. Information and applications for all YFA contests can be downloaded from wfbf.com.
Last year’s Excellence in Ag award recipient was Lynn Dickman from Waushara County.
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