Farm Bureau holds contests

Heather Ainsley
ECB Publishing, Inc.

The Jefferson County Farm Bureau held three contests this year: a Speech Contest, a Poster Contest and an Essay Contest.
For this year's Speech Contest, the topic was, “How have supply chain issues impacted Florida Agriculture?” This year, there were 11 participants from Jefferson K-12 who mustered up their courage to deliver their speeches in front of their peers and a panel of judges. Judges for the speech contest were Michelle Milligan (Supervisor of Elections), Buck Carpenter (Madison County farmer), Sarah Fulford (Women's Chair for Jefferson County Farm Bureau Women's Committee and farmer's wife), Casey Gunnels (Department of Agriculture) and Caraline Coombs (official timekeeper and District 3 Field Rep for Florida Farm Bureau). The winners of the Speech Contest are:
1st place – Desmond Whitfield, who was awarded $75
2nd place – Marchaun Andrews, who was awarded $50
3rd place – Jonathan Youngblood, who was awarded $25
Stefanie Prevatt, the FFA/AG teacher at Jefferson, was awarded $50 to use in her classroom as she deems appropriate. As the first place contest winner, Whitfield will be moving on to a District 3 competition this September.
The Farm Bureau also held a Poster Contest for 1st graders and an Essay Contest for 5th graders of Aucilla Christian Academy (ACA) in Monticello and Community Leadership Academy (CLA) in Tallahassee. The 1st graders were asked to create a poster depicting a farm. They were encouraged to use any materials they wished and the poster was provided by the Jefferson County Farm Bureau. The 5th graders were instructed to write a 100-word essay on “Why is Agriculture important to America?” Essay contest participants were permitted to do research outside of class, but the essay itself had to be written during class in their best handwriting.
The judges for the poster and essay contests were Jefferson County Sheriff Mac McNeill, Michelle Milligan and Danielle Sprague.
For CLA, there were two first grade classes and one fifth grade class that participated in the contests. Ms. Baker's first grade winners were Logan Griffin (1st place), Jaxxen Mast (2nd place) and Dalton Allen (3rd place). Ms. Noll's first grade winners were Ava Register (1st place), Emmett Rodriguez (2nd place) and Hadley Morris (3rd place). Ms. Kapec's fifth grade winners of the essay contest were Kendall Getz (1st place), Alexis Bankston (2nd place) and Ben Capas (3rd place). Each of these teachers also received a $25 award to use however they liked in their classroom.
For ACA, the Poster Contest winners of Ms. Robert's first grade class were Mason Williams (1st place), Aubrey Langley (2nd place) and Jacob McCormick (3rd place). The Essay Contest winners of Ms. Fletcher's fifth grade class were Harold Baxley (1st place), Melanie Metty (2nd place) and Walker Pavlik (3rd place).
Each year, the Jefferson County Farm Bureau hosts these contests. Once the participants' entries are submitted and judged, Sarah Fulford, the Chair for the Women's Committee, goes to each school to give out awards and treat the entire class to a pizza party! The purpose of these contests is to emphasize the importance of children and their education, specifically in regards to farming and the people who grow our food in America. The Jefferson County Farm Bureau feels that it is crucial for children to understand the importance of food production in our country, from both a national view and a local one. By sponsoring agricultural contests like these, they hope to establish both knowledge about and appreciation for agriculture.