Rutherford County young farm couple Brandon and Katherine Whitt were named Tennessee Farm Bureau’s Outstanding Young Farmer and Achievement Award winners during special ceremonies at the Tennessee Young Farmer Summer Conference. The young row crop and swine farmers from the Blackman community, bested 16 other county contestants in state competition held at the headquarter offices of the Tennessee Farm Bureau in Columbia, Tenn., to be named the state winners and to also have the opportunity to compete for national honors in January.
Brandon and Katherine were named this year’s winners based upon farm and financial records from the farm year 2012. The Whitts farm over 1900 acres in the surrounding Blackman and Murfreesboro area of Rutherford County in an owner/partnership operation. Their major crops are soybeans, wheat, corn and strawberries. They market over 800 head of hogs a year mostly through retail outlets consisting of 4,000 pounds of meat monthly by on farm retail, restaurants and farmers markets.
Both Brandon and Katherine have been very active in the Young Farmer and Rancher program, as well as the Rutherford County Farm Bureau and his community. Brandon has served on the Board of Directors of the Rutherford County Farm Bureau since 2004 and was state chairman of the Tennessee YF&R in 2012. Both are very active in their church. The Whitts have three children.
The rewards for being named the state winner are many. They receive a year’s free use of a brand new Case/IH tractor up to 150 hours. They also received $500 from Tennessee Farm Bureau, a fully loaded RTV to keep from Tennessee Farm Bureau, an insurance policy to cover the tractor for one year from Farm Bureau Insurance of Tennessee and a trip to the American Farm Bureau Convention in San Antonio, Texas in January 2014, where he will compete for national honors with other state winners for national awards. The national will get their choice of a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado or 2014 GMC Sierra, courtesy of GM and paid registration to the 2014 YF&R Leadership Conference in Virginia Beach, February 7-10. Three national runners-up will receive a Case IH Farmall tractor, courtesy of Case IH, and a $2,500 cash prize and $500 in merchandise courtesy of STIHL.