After three rounds of competition, Tate Kerns was named the State Collegiate Discussion Meet winner at the Tennessee Young Farmers & Ranchers (YF&R) Summer Conference. Kerns is from Unicoi County and is an upcoming senior at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
The Collegiate Discussion Meet is designed to simulate a committee meeting consisting of discussion and active participation. This competition is evaluated on an exchange of ideas and information on a pre-determined topic. Participants build basic discussion skills, develop an understanding of agricultural issues and explore how groups can work together to solve an issue. Successful participants are productive thinkers rather than emotional persuaders and assist the group in creating ways to implement the solutions discussed and highlights Farm Bureau’s involvement in those actions.
For this achievement, Kerns receives $1,000 cash from Tennessee Farm Bureau and receives a trip to the 2026 American Farm Bureau Young Farmers & Ranchers Conference in Portland, Ore. in March 2026 to compete nationally.
Second place honors went to Shelbi Wallace of Tennessee Tech University. Others in the final four competition were Eli Julian of Tennessee Tech University and Preston Pooler from the University of Tennessee at Martin.
