YF&R Awards

Who better to chat with about the American Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers and Ranchers (YF&R) Achievement Award than Sean Ellis, spokesperson for the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation? Sean, can you tell us more about this exciting award?

Speaker 2: Absolutely! The Achievement Award is all about recognizing young farmers and ranchers who’ve excelled in their operations and shown impressive leadership skills. Contestants are evaluated on several factors, like the growth and financial progress of their farming or ranching operation, as well as their leadership roles within Farm Bureau and beyond.

We also have another award called the Excellence Award, which is part of the YF&R program. Here’s the cool part: the winners of these awards get some amazing prizes! For example, the Excellence Award winner takes home a Polaris side-by-side, while the Achievement Award winner gets an all-expenses-paid trip to Texas for the Executive Program for Agricultural Producers (TEPAP).

Now, you might wonder why one winner gets a side-by-side, and the other goes to a course. Well, we had someone recently attend TEPAP who shared how valuable the experience was. He said that after going through this intensive program, where experts analyzed his entire operation to find ways to save money, he realized that even a 1% savings per year could allow him to buy a new side-by-side annually! So, it’s a huge benefit and not something to overlook. Becoming better farmers and ranchers—what an amazing goal!