This year’s annual meeting theme, Strength in Numbers, was a good fit for an organization carding its sixth straight year of regular-member growth.
You don’t have to dig deep into those numbers to see the final tallies put Pat Butler on top for recruiting 14 new members into the Calhoun County Farm Bureau. Nipping at his heels, though, was Candi Fentress, who this year signed up an even dozen new members for the Wayne County Farm Bureau, many of them urban farmers in Detroit.
Without taking anything away from Butler’s achievement, Candi’s tally is equally impressive given circumstances in the urban southeast, where — especially in the city — Farm Bureau is still making inroads and evaluating how it can best serve Detroiters mastering the alchemy of transforming blight into bounty.
In true Farm Bureau Family fashion, Butler himself recognized Fentress’ work, honoring it and her with a handcrafted wooden journal to commemorate her ongoing accomplishments, three counties east of his down I-94. Butler also crafted the wooden Michigan silhouette gifted to former Governor Rick Snyder, the newest recipient of MFB’s Distinguished Service to Agriculture award.
Discuss among yourselves which award is more significant, and more telling of Farm Bureau’s grassroots heart.