Newton County Farm Bureau was recently recognized during the Georgia Farm Bureau Third District Annual Meeting for its outstanding member programs. Keith Mitcham is the NCFB President.

The NCFB Women’s Leadership Committee, chaired by Sandi Mitcham, won the Third District Outstanding Women’s Leadership Award. In recognition of GFB’s 75th Anniversary in 2012, the committee developed a video to show how NCFB began and grew over the years.

The NCFB Young Farmer Committee, chaired by B.J. Marks, won the Outstanding Young Farmer Committee Award. The committee planned and put on the annual farm day for local school children, reaching 658 students and more than 90 teachers. The Young Farmers also won the District GFB Young Farmer Achievement Award for the second year in a row.
The NCFB Legislative Committee, chaired by Julius Hays, won the Outstanding Legislative Program Award.

The committee arranged to host a visit and farm tour with Rep. Hank Johnson and NCFB President Keith Mitcham made a trip to Washington to spend a day on Capitol Hill with Rep. Johnson.

The Newton County Farm Bureau was also recognized with the 2013 Georgia Farm Bureau Membership Award, given to county Farm Bureaus that increased their membership over the previous year.

Newton County Farm Bureau Office Manager Crystal Hyatt won the Outstanding County Office Manager Award. Hyatt has been instrumental in setting up classroom activities in local schools to teach students about agriculture as well as assisting NCFB’s committees in their promotional activities. She and her husband, Daniel, live in Newborn.

The GFB Third District includes 14 county Farm Bureaus in west Georgia. Founded in 1937, Georgia Farm Bureau is the state’s largest general farm organization and has 158 county offices. Its volunteer members actively participate in local, state and national activities that promote agriculture awareness to their non-farming neighbors. Georgia Farm Bureau also has 20 agricultural commodity advisory committees that give input on issues.