After having celebrated the 30th Annual Swisher Sweets / Sunbelt Ag Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award in 2019, the program is releasing an updated name and logo for the 2021 Sunbelt Ag Expo. In August 2020, Swisher International, Inc. changed its corporate identity to SWISHER, signifying the expansion of the company’s vision and offerings. This change initiated an update to the name of the award program to Swisher / Sunbelt Ag Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year.
The Farmer of the Year program celebrates exceptional members of the agricultural community from ten states. Nominees for state awards are nominated by local county Extension agents in Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Farm Bureau Federation area organization directors, field representatives or county presidents nominate the winners in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky and North Carolina. The rules, however, allow anyone to nominate a potential Farmer of the Year as long as they go through the local County Extension agent or Farm Bureau representative. Once each state winner is selected by its respective state committee, these ten winners are entered into the Southeastern Farmer of the Year Competition.
To ensure fairness in the selection of the overall winner, judges review a nomination packet and participate in a three hour farm visit for each state winner. At the conclusion of this year’s Expo, a total of 31 outstanding farmers will have been recognized as overall winners of the Swisher / Sunbelt Ag Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award, and 276 farmers from ten states will have been recognized as state winners.
To learn more about this year’s event and the 2020-2021 state winners, visit sunbeltexpo.com/foty. We hope to see you in October as we celebrate these farmers, their families, and the 2021 Swisher / Sunbelt Ag Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year.