Justin and Laycee Story of Cauthron (Scott County) and Hannah Walker of Henderson (Baxter County) earned the top Young Farmers & Ranchers awards Thursday during Arkansas Farm Bureau’s annual Officers & Leaders Conference at the Red Wolf Convention Center in Jonesboro. The awards honor young farmers and ranchers ages 18-35 for the general excellence of their operations and their hard work and innovation.

Jamison Orchards is nearing a century of peach production in Nashville, Arkansas. Now famous for their delicious fruit, Lou Jamison talks about the struggles and successes in her 40-plus year career raising peaches.

Henry Witcher, 15, and Shannon Bateman, 13, won in their respective categories in the 2024 Arkansas Farm Bureau Dairy Foods Cooking Contest on July 18 at the state fairgrounds in Little Rock.

Jase Sheppard, 11, and Caitlin Cooper, 16, won in their respective categories in the 2024 Arkansas Farm Bureau Rice is Nice Cooking Contest on July 18 at the state fairgrounds in Little Rock.

The Medical Applications of Science for Health (M*A*S*H) camp recently gave Fort Smith-area students the opportunity to have face-to-face interactions with first responders. This helped students understand the responsibilities of emergency workers, firefighters, and police in protecting and saving lives. Arkansas Farm Bureau has sponsored M*A*S*H programs across the state for 36 years, helping introduce high school students to careers in the medical field.

Meet the finalist! Hannah Walker and her husband Cody run a cow-calf operation near Mountain Home. On weekdays, Hannah works within the Mountain Home School district, and on the weekends she and Cody operate County Line Beef, LLC, a direct-to-consumer beef operation. Hannah and her family look to be the face of agriculture in their community. Their two kids Claire and Charlie are active on the farm and in 4-H.

Jimmy Dorsey Horton says it will take days to assess damage from storms that swept one of his 500-pound hay bales across Hwy. 74 east of Marshall. High winds and flash floods late Tuesday and early Wednesday belted farms in eight North Arkansas counties.

Meet the finalist! Dalton and Skiver Dilldine farm 5,500 acres where they grow wheat, soybeans, cotton, corn and rice. They also bought a commercial grain facility in 2022 and have turned it into an efficient storage solution. Watch to learn more about their family and farm.

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Farm Bureau’s (ArFB) 76th annual Officers and Leaders Conference is set for July 25 - 26 at the Red Wolf Convention Center in Jonesboro. Themed Breaking New Boundaries, the event will feature professional development sessions, commodity division meetings, recognition of outstanding Young Farmer & Rancher families and wrap up with a keynote from Dr. Cliff E. Jones, deputy director of the Arkansas State University Delta Center for Economic Development. More than 500 Farm Bureau leaders are expected to attend.

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