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Iowa, Indiana farm moms among top five

A Minden, Iowa woman and a Franklin, Indiana woman are among the five regional winners in Monsanto’s search for Farm Mom of the Year.

“I actually grew up in town, so when I met and married a farmer from Iowa I had a lot of learning to do,” said Sara Ross, Minden, Iowa, who is now balancing farm work, a career off the farm in her family’s insurance business, as well as raising the seventh generation to farm her and her husband’s ground in southwestern Iowa.

Ross is one of five regional winners in Monsanto’s 2015 America’s Farmers “Mom of the Year” contest.  She and the other four were announced on Friday to begin the next round of voting to see who will be the overall winner.

“A big thing I like to do is speak out about agriculture, and I’ve been involved in the Common Ground program over the last five years, so I get to do a lot of traveling and talking about our family farm and what it’s like, and why we make the decisions we do,” said Ross.  “I’ve done that statewide, nationally and also internationally.”

Ross’s upbringing was with parents who went to work at a certain time and came home at a certain time.  Her adjustment eight years ago to farm life was a big one.

“Farming is around the clock,” said Ross.  “That was definitely an eye opener, but I have grown to love this way of life and being able to raise our children on the farm, I’m very happy that we’re able to do that.”

Voting is now underway online for one of the women to be named “National Farm Mom of the Year.”

“Every year we receive such heartfelt nominations about people’s favorite Farm Mom,” says Tracy Mueller, corporate brand manager for Monsanto. “But this year, we’ve especially been overwhelmed by the number and quality of the entries we received. These women have different backgrounds and ways they contribute, but one thing was always clear – their strength, perseverance and dedication to their families, farms, communities and the industry they love.”

The five finalists met each other for the first time on Thursday morning and Sara Ross was quick to discover the common thread binding the five: “Our passion for agriculture,” she said.  “We all come from different farming backgrounds, but we’re all very passionate about agriculture and telling our stories.”

The 2015 regional winners of the America’s Farm Mom of the Year contest include, Northwest Region: Shelly Davis or Albany, Ore.; Southwest Region: Shelley Heinrich of Lubbock, Texas; Midwest Region: Sara Ross of Minden, Iowa; Northeast Region: Amy Kelsay of Franklin, Ind.; and Southeast Region: Megan Seibel of Roanoke, Va.

Each regional winner will receive a $5,000 award. Their biographical information and original nomination is currently posted online at AmericasFarmers.com, where visitors can click to vote for their favorite farm mom based on the judging criteria provided in the contest rules. The woman who receives the most votes between April 24 and May 5 will be named the “National Farm Mom of the Year” — just in time for Mother’s Day. As a bonus, she will also receive an additional $5,000 prize.

AUDIO: Sara Ross (8 min. MP3)

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