Agriculture is thriving in Newton County, and if the list of Georgia National Fair winners from the Future Farmers of America is any indication, the future is bright.

The students representing Newton County FFA teams were leaders in numerous categories, including seven first place wins. We ran some photos of the students and detailed their honors in Sunday's newspaper. You can check it out at Covnews.com

Congratulations to all.

The seven first-place winners were all Newton High students Josie Stamps, Mia DeLuca, Brianna Galloway, Delayney Henry, Kayla Eason, Bryan Vasquez and Anna Grace Ellis.

That's a lot of top notch work, and reflects well on their agricultural advisers Justin Bennett and Ryan Talton.

What is especially impressive is the diversity of the categories in which our students competed, everything from floral arrangements and plant identification to beef livestock projects.

Modern agriculture requires business sense, an extensive education and a bit of an eye for the artistic. FFA seems to be preparing our children well.