Awards given at Farm-City Week breakfast
Published 9:21 am Wednesday, December 4, 2024
Fifth grader Malley Paulk ws the winner of the Farm-City Week poster contest. She received a prize of $50.
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Several local students were honored during the annual Farm-City Week Breakfast held last week at the Orrville Farmers Market.
The breakfast, which was held during the annual Farm-City Week, recognized fifth grader Malley Paulk as the winner of the Farm-City Week poster contest winner. She received a prize of $50.
In the essay contest, first place went to Dejah Carrato taking a $50 cash prize. Second place and $30 cash went to Dawson Curtis while Joshua Davis took home third place and $20.
In addition to those awards, the Hay Quality Contest winners were announced. The Cool Season Annual Forage went to Gene Pegues while the Bermudagrass winner was George Yocum.
The main goal of Farm-City is to deepen understanding of the relationship between rural farmers and urban workers, according to the Alabama Farmers Federation. The Alabama Cooperative Extension, the Dallas County Farmers Association, Dallas County Cattlemen’s Association, Alabama Ag Credit and Alfa were among the sponsors for the event.
The keynote speaker was Reid McGuire, director of field operation for the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association.
He said cattle prices have been good, but the future remains uncertain. Cow farmers are experiencing the lowest expense since the 1960s as prices have been historically high.
“I don’t have a crystal ball, but people say for the next 3-4 years at least the cattle prices will remain strong,” McGuire said. “It remains to be seen with things like drought and high input costs and the decrease in the cow herd is just something that is cyclical or it’s something more long-term. Older producers are getting out of the business and maybe not always being replaced.”
The age of cattle producers is concerning to McGuire. The average age of cattle producers in the country is around 60 or late 50s. Cattlemen are working to find ways to attract younger
“We have some career development type contests where kids can win scholarship money up to $500,” McGuire said. “We have the AJCA roundup in the summer, which is a cattle show that also consists of different educational contests. And then we also do different field days in the spring and fall that are kind of designed to expose youth to different kinds of the production side of the beef cattle industry.”
He also encouraged those in attendance to join the Cattlemen’s Association.
