Clint and Sami Bolen, of Fair Play, won the Missouri Farm Bureau (MOFB) Young Farmers and Ranchers (YF&R) Excellence in Agriculture Award during the organization’s 105th annual meeting December 10 at the Lake of the Ozarks.
The Excellence in Agriculture Award is designed to recognize young farmers and ranchers who have not received a majority of their income from an owned production agriculture enterprise for the past three years.
The Bolens were recognized for their involvement in Farm Bureau, agriculture and community during the annual YF&R breakfast. They earned a $500 check from the MOFB Foundation for Agriculture and a $500 check from Ford Motor Company.
The Cedar County Farm Bureau family also won a trip to Austin, Texas, to represent Missouri at the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) YF&R Excellence in Agriculture Award Contest this January. The contest is part of the AFBF Annual Meeting where they will compete for the grand prize of a new Ford truck and paid registration to the AFBF YF&R Conference in Louisville, Kentucky in March. Runner-up wins a Case IH Farmall 50A tractor from Case IH. Third and fourth place earn a combination of prizes, such as 40” tool cabinets, a $500 Case IH parts card and Stanley Black & Decker merchandise.
The family is the fourth generation of cattle farmers, with Clint working off the farm for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. He hauls oversized equipment across the South and Midwest. Sami stays at home working on the farm and managing the farm’s day-to-day operations from feeding to baling hale and bookkeeping.
They care for a cow/calf herd that consists of a cross of Charolais and Red Angus breeds. Registered Charolais cattle are used for showing and they also raise feeder cattle. Together, the couple plans to double both the size of their farm and their commercial cattle herd. They hope to strengthen genetics in the process. They are the last on both sides of their family still farming. The Bolens have three young children ages 6,4 and 2 that they hope will continue the farming tradition.
Both are involved on the board and YF&R programs of the Cedar County Farm Bureau. Sami is also the promotion and education committee at the county level and involved in Thank a Farmer activities at several schools.
Second place in the contest went to Stephanie Robertson, of Wright County. She received $200 and an expense-paid trip to the AFBF Annual Meeting. Placing third to win $100 was Charlie Brooks, of Wright County.
