Baker County youth wins Farm Bureau Speech Contest

(Gainesville, Fla.) – Austin Gibson of Baker County was the winner and Valerie McKee, Okeechobee County, was the runner-up in the state Youth Speech Contest held at the Florida Farm Bureau Annual Meeting Oct. 11, 2007 at the Daytona Beach Hilton. Gibson, a junior at Baker County High School, is the son of Brenda Gibson of Olustee. Valerie is a sophomore at Okeechobee High School and is the daughter of Cary and Fran McKee of Okeechobee. Each received a cash award. They were among eight finalists who won district speech competitions, earning the opportunity to speak in the state-level competition in Daytona Beach. The students addressed the topic: “How will the global market affect agriculture in the next five years.”

The Florida Farm Bureau Federation is the state’s largest general-interest agricultural association with about 140,000 member-families statewide. Headquartered in Gainesville, the Federation is an independent, nonprofit agricultural organization. More information about Florida Farm Bureau is available on the organization’s website, FloridaFarmBureau.org.