Colorado Farm Bureau recognized county farm bureaus, and individual members for their achievements in membership recruitment and County Awards of Excellence programs at Friday’s annual Awards Luncheon. Sixteen county Farm Bureaus were recognized for achieving producer or overall membership goal. A $500 incentive was provided to these counties with an additional $200 for those that reached their producer goal.

Awards of Excellence recognize counties who conduct innovative or successful programs in the areas of Membership; Communications/Outreach; Leadership Development, Local Affairs, and Policy Implementation. Counties apply for the recognition and submissions are rated by a panel of judges. This year, 15 counties submitted a total of 68 programs for recognition. 

The President’s Award recognizes the top county farm bureau in each program area. The President’s Awards for 2019 were:

  • Leadership Development– Huerfano County, for providing a series of community workshops addressing the problem of drug and opioid abuse in their area.
  • Local Affairs- La Plata County, for hosting their county annual meeting as a large-scale, public event to celebrate agriculture and its contributions to the county.
  • Communications/Outreach- Rio Blanco County, for hosting and organizing an exhibit on human trafficking.
  • Membership- Elbert County, for hosting a membership drive in conjunction with their county fair to fantastic success.
  • Policy Implementation- Montrose/Ouray/San Miguel County, for hosting a public forum on wolf introduction.

The Silver Award is a traveling trophy that is awarded to the county with the highest overall scores and ranking from all judged program categories. The winning county receives an award to display back in the county and the name of the county is placed on the traveling trophy. The Silver Award was presented to Weld County Farm Bureau for hosting a pancake breakfast, developing a Facebook page, hosting a state patrol safety workshop, providing scholarships for local students as well a collegiate farm bureau scholarships for the AFBF YF&R leadership conference, hosting a member appreciation event dinner and rodeo and a chamber of commerce ag tour, and more!

Additionally, Pueblo County Farm Bureau and their local Colorado Farm Bureau insurance agents were recognized for top prize in the Serving the Same People Initiative, a new award that celebrates great relationships between local Farm Bureau boards and their insurance agents.

Finally, Charles McMurdy of Montrose/Ouray/San Miguel Farm Bureau won the awards for the top membership recruiter, bringing 11 new producers into the Farm Bureau Family! Charles wins an all-expense-paid trip to the AFBF Annual Meeting in Austin, TX in January.

Congratulations and well done to all the award winners in 2019!