Champions of Excellence Awards recognize county Farm Bureaus for outstanding efforts to implement member-developed policy, advocate organizational positions, inform consumers and promote Michigan agriculture.
A who’s-who roster of Michigan’s county Farm Bureaus have earned 2025 Champions of Excellence Awards. Designed to acknowledge county Farm Bureaus’ efforts in advocating for agriculture and engaging members, MFB’s annual Champions of Excellence recognition is awarded annually in two categories, Involvement and Grassroots.
Involvement-category winners were recognized in the first article in this series. Here’s the fifth and final batch of winners in the grassroots category:
Charlevoix’s Sustainability Field Day
More than 240 farmers, students, community members and representatives from ag-adjacent organizations attended Charlevoix County Farm Bureau’s Field Day, which shared sustainable farming practices in a peer-to-peer exchange emphasizing real-world feasibility.
Collaborating with Ellsworth Co-op, Ebels and MSU Extension, Charlevoix County Farm Bureau coordinated the event at member David Skornia’s Lakeview Farm to boost awareness of cover crops, fertilizers, organic practices, no-till and local agriculture advocacy.
Noting an interest among local growers in adopting more sustainable practices, Skornia demonstrated how sustainable methods work on his own operation. Emphasizing education, innovation and real-world challenges, his content resonated and engaged almost a dozen new or inactive Farm Bureau members, several of whom expressed interest in getting more involved in future programming.
The event also checked several boxes on the county Farm Bureau’s mission by bridging knowledge gaps, encouraging collaboration, growing engagement, and promoting advocacy and connection.
Several members helped plan the event, which brought together farmers, educators and ag businesses to foster education, networking, and innovation in sustainable agriculture.
They began with identifying key goals: promoting sustainable farming practices, raising awareness of cover crops and fertilizers, and connecting local farmers with educational and advocacy resources. From there, the participating partners coordinated effort to finalize the agenda and finalize details including signage, demonstration plots, equipment displays and informational handouts.
Promotion leaned into the value of peer-to-peer learning and the opportunity to see firsthand how organic practices work at Lakeview Farms. Engaging Farm Bureau members involved e-newsletters, social media posts, direct outreach through local ag networks and word-of-mouth promotion throughout the farming community.
Learning from a local peer bolstered confidence in the shared messages and content, helping overcome skepticism with an emphasis on real-world relevance and practical value.
St. Clair’s Touch-a-Truck & Tractor
Inspired by the boredom of members’ young children during board meetings, St. Clair County Farm Bureau’s Touch-a-Truck & Tractor aimed to engage young people poised to potentially choose a future in agriculture.
With family-friendliness on the upswing throughout the organization, the event addressed soft spots in local programming and promoted ag awareness to the non-farm community. A new feature on St. Clair’s calendar, the hands-on event helped boost general farm knowledge with particular emphasis on road safety and ag-career promotion.
Promotion began on social media before expanding to local media outlets, including newspapers and a local broadcaster. Farm Bureau members received invitations via email.
Planners included a diverse cross-section of involved members, plus partners from the St. Clair County Farm Museum, who contributed several antique tractors and other vintage farm equipment.
Hoping for at least 10 vehicles, planners broadened their scope to include emergency services equipment, semis and even food trucks. Farm Bureau members — some newly written as a result of their participation — contributed half a dozen vehicles to the event.
In the end the goal was tripled, with the welcome addition of drones, construction equipment and fire trucks. Most were climb-on-able or featured other hands-on components or educational features.
Aside from St. Clair’s Project RED, it was the largest public event the county Farm Bureau’s ever done, open to families and without age or capacity restrictions. Hoping to attract the widest possible audience with welcoming inclusivity, planners made sure to incorporate a time specifically for special-needs youth preferring a reduced level of stimulation.
And it all paid off big time, with an estimated 1,500 people attending — some from an hour-plus distance, and even despite snow the morning of!
And that's the last of this year's Champions of Excellence winners! See the links below for three of the four preceding articles; the first one's right here. They're all worth revisiting, because that could be your county next year!
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