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Outstanding Young Farmer Award application deadline extended

The application deadline has been extended to October 5^th for the National Outstanding Young Farmer (NOYF) Awards. The NOYF Awards Congress is planned for February in Appleton, Wisconsin, unless COVID-19 is still a threat, according to Sharon Page, event coordinator for the NOYF.

“Like everybody else globally we’re addressing the challenges [on a] daily, weekly, monthly basis as to how we may have to adapt this national awards convention,” Page told Brownfield Ag News.

The history of the NOYF goes back to the early 50s, when the Iowa Jaycees presented the award in that state. “And in 1955, the National Jaycees took over where they recognized outstanding individuals or couples in agriculture,” said Page.

The NOYF continues to recognize farmers and their families who innovate and inspire others.

Will Cabe of Red Hill, Georgia, one of the four 2020 winners, told Brownfield after accepting the award that farming is more than planting and harvesting.

“The crop is the three young people that live in my house, those eyes that look at me every single day,” said Cabe last winter, referring to his children. “I try to be a reflection of what we’re supposed to be as people, what we’re supposed to be as agriculturalists and what we’re supposed to be as Christians. I want to give them something to look up to and something they can be proud of.”

National Outstanding Young Farmer applications are available on their website.