This award program is designed to recognize the most outstanding young farmer or rancher in Farm Bureau, based on farming operation, growth and financial progress of operation, and leadership experiences.

A panel of qualified judges will make the final selection of the state winner.  The state winner will be recognized at the Missouri Farm Bureau Annual Meeting, December 3-5, 2023. The state winner will receive a cash award and also win a trip to the American Farm Bureau Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, in January 2024, where they will represent Missouri in the national contest.

The second and third place entries will also be recognized and receive a plaque and cash award at the Missouri Farm Bureau Annual Meeting.

Main Rules of Eligibility

• Any Farm Bureau member who is in good standing with their county Farm Bureau and is actively farming with the majority of their income from production agriculture.
• Competitors can be either an individual or a married couple (husband and wife) and must be at least 18 and no more than 35 years of age as of January 22, 2024.  If married, husband and wife may apply as individuals or as co-applicants.
• Preliminary entries are due by September 29, 2023.

Application

Background

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) annually conducts a Young Farmers & Ranchers (YF&R) Achievement Award competition. State Farm Bureaus are encouraged to promote this activity among county Farm Bureaus.  Selection of the winning YF&R competitor is based on their efforts in production agriculture and leadership achievement. The ideal candidate(s) for the Achievement Award is an individual or couple involved in production  agriculture with a majority of their gross income subject to farm and/or ranch risks. It is recommended that state Farm Bureaus provide, as part of the state recognition award, an expense-paid trip to the 2024 AFBF Annual  Convention held in Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan. 19-24. Appropriate recognition will be given to all national competitors in attendance at the AFBF Annual Convention. The AFBF YF&R Committee and the AFBF Leadership, Education and Engagement Department will coordinate the program at the national level.

Information about the Achievement Award applicant is requested on the entry form. ALL INFORMATION IS HANDLED IN STRICT CONFIDENCE AND IS DESTROYED AFTER JUDGING IS COMPLETED.

Eligibility

The ideal candidate(s) for the Achievement Award is an individual or couple involved in production agriculture with a majority of their gross income subject to farm and/or ranch risks.

• An applicant can be either an individual or a couple that is married or has similar legal rights under the law applicable to the state Farm Bureau organization. Applicant may choose to apply individually, rather than as a couple.
• Applicant(s) shall be a Farm Bureau member(s) between the ages of 18 and 35 in good standing with their county Farm Bureau. The individual or spouse/spousal-equivalent shall have reached their 18th birthday at the time they qualify for the national competition and shall not have reached their 36th birthday by the completion of the competition. Competitors qualify at the time the national application is submitted and the completion of the competition is the day awards are given out (Monday, January 22, 2024).
• Applicant(s) must be in attendance on-site at the AFBF Annual Convention to compete nationally.
• Applicant(s) must be actively engaged in farming and/or ranching, with the majority of their gross income coming from production agriculture. Applicant(s) must have at least three years of financial records showing that the majority of income came from production agriculture.
• Applicant(s) may only compete in one national YF&R competition per year. 
• Past and present members of the AFBF Young Farmers & Ranchers Committee and/or their spouse are not eligible to compete.
• Previous AFBF Achievement Award competitors are not eligible to compete. Past state YF&R Achievement Award winners are eligible if they have not previously competed at the national level.
• Current employees or agents of county, state and/or the American Farm Bureau organizations and their affiliates are not eligible to compete. An affiliate is defined as an entity owned or controlled in whole or in part by another entity through, for example, ownership (including partial ownership) or positions on the board of directors. Past employees and interns who were responsible for implementing any of the YF&R Competitive Events at the state or national level since January 1, 2019, are ineligible.
• Each state Farm Bureau may submit one entry to be considered for national recognition and must use the AFBF entry form and application.

Entry Form & Application Guidelines

• Do not use applicant’s name, the name of their state or county, or any names that may bring about the recognition or identification of the applicant’s state beyond the entry form. The written versions of the application have a search feature to locate any identifiers.
• The entry form and application must be completed in first person narrative (i.e. I, me, we, etc.) for sections 1-9 and 13. “A1”/“A2” may not be used for sections 1-9 and 13. Applicants must use “A1”/“A2” to denote each applicant for all of sections 10-12.
• The Financial Success section must be typed, signed and notarized; handwritten financial forms will be disqualified. If the notarization includes a state identifier such as a state name or seal, the identifier needs to be blacked out.
• Do not use abbreviations or acronyms, unless it has been spelled out once with the abbreviation in parentheses behind it. For example, United States Department of Education (USDE). AFBF, FB, and YF&R are acceptable to use throughout the application.
• The attached entry form and application is an example of the information needed for the official online application. Authorized state Farm Bureau representatives will have access to the online portal for official state submission. No emailed or mailed entry forms or applications will be accepted.
• State Farm Bureaus have permission to reproduce the attached entry form for state-level competition or as a recruitment tool.
• It will be up to the judges’ discretion to deduct points if applicants include activities before they were 18.

Note: Disregard of the guidelines will result in disqualification of the application.

VIRTUAL CONVENTION: If AFBF is unable to hold the 2024 Annual Convention in-person for any reason, the competitive events will be held virtually, and all applicants should be made aware of this possibility prior to their application. If the competition will be virtual, all contestants will be given the opportunity to withdraw their application for 2024 to ensure eligibility for future years.

Judging

• The entry form and application of each state entry will be coded upon receipt by AFBF. The applicant’s name and state will not be revealed to the judges until judging is completed.
• Judging is based on the application sent to AFBF by the state Farm Bureau. An interview with the Top 10 finalists during the AFBF Annual Convention determines final scores and rank.
• A panel of qualified judges will select the national winners. The Top 10 competitors will be interviewed by the same judges who reviewed the written applications.
• Interviews will be up to 20 minutes in length and are intended to evaluate the competitor’s command of the farm/ranch business and financials, familiarity of the contents of the application and appreciation for the value of Farm Bureau (see rubric). In addition to the 5 points allocated for the interview, judges may alter scores from other sections based on what they learn during the interview.
• During the interview process, only the named applicant(s) on the entry form is permitted into the interview, and the applicant(s) should refrain from using the name of their state or county, or any names that may bring about the recognition or identification of their state. Applicants can refer to each other by their first name throughout the interview.

Scoring

Application Form

Please complete the form. If you wish to start the application but complete it later, scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Save.” The application submission deadline is September 29, 2023.