The Fayette County Farm Bureau was one of eight Ohio county farm bureaus to win County Activities of Excellence awards, presented by the American Farm Bureau.
According to a press release, “the awards celebrate unique, local, volunteer-driven programming and serve as models of innovation for local program development.”
The Fayette County Farm Bureau won recognition for the celebrity chef competition held during the “Farm to Fork Dinner.” According to the press release, “local chefs participated in a fun competition to show their recipe development skills and cooking abilities. The chefs received a list of seasonal produce available from local growers and requested the produce they needed. At the dinner, chefs showcased their restaurant and dish, interacted with guests and talked about their dishes.”
This year’s winners were Marsha and Jonathan Arnold from Werners BBQ with their tomato corn chowder and toasted corn bread recipe.
“Once again, Ohio has more CAE winners than any other state,” said Melinda Witten, Ohio Farm Bureau director, leadership programming. “We are always proud of the county Farm Bureau programming in Ohio, but we are thrilled to see 11 counties recognized at the American Farm Bureau level.”
Eleven counties were recognized despite the fact that only eight awards were given to Ohio farm bureaus because four counties worked together on one activity.
“The winning counties receive a grant to fund participation in the Farm Bureau CAE Showcase at the 2019 American Farm Bureau Annual Convention and IDEAg Trade Show in New Orleans in January. AFBF received more than 100 entries across all membership categories, with only 24 activities nationwide being selected to show at the convention,” according to the release.
In addition to winning national recognition, Fayette County’s Farm Bureau made a positive impact on the local community by donating the funds raised by the Farm to Fork dinner to the Rose Avenue Community Center. This included $8,500 raised by the dinner and $1,850 that was raised by the auction that was held during the dinner.
