Jefferson County couple named Achievement Award winners

Stephen and Tracie Fulford, a Jefferson County couple, had the pleasure of driving away from the Florida Farm Bureau’s 2010 Annual Meeting with a new Dodge Ram Quad Cab truck, courtesy of Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company. The Fulfords won this special prize after having been selected as the winners of Florida Farm Bureau’s Young Farmer and Rancher Achievement Award competition.

The Fulfords will also receive an all-expense paid trip to Atlanta in January to represent the Sunshine State in the national competition at the American Farm Bureau’s Annual Meeting. The winner there will receive a new Dodge pickup truck (courtesy of Dodge) and a 4x4 ATV.

James LeFils, Jr. and Sara LeFils of Ocala and Jason and Olivia DeVane of Fort Meade were the runners-up for this prestigious award.

The winner was announced during the President’s Celebration and Awards Ceremony at Florida Farm Bureau’s 2010 Annual Meeting at the Hilton Oceanfront Resort in Daytona Beach Oct. 14.

The Fulfords, along with other family members, operate a 1,500 acre row crop farm in Monticello.  Their major crops include peanuts (green and dry), cotton and grain sorghum. Stephen has been a member of the Jefferson County Farm Bureau board of directors since 2005. In addition to his work on the farm and in the community, Stephen is an elected member of the Jefferson County Commission.

The Achievement Award Program is designed to recognize those young farmers and ranchers that have excelled in their farming/ranching operations and honed their leadership abilities to a superior level. The contestants are evaluated on a combination of their farming operation, the growth and financial progress of operation, Farm Bureau leadership, as well as leadership outside of Farm Bureau.

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, non-profit agricultural organization. More information about Florida Farm Bureau is available on the organization’s website, http://FloridaFarmBureau.org