MACON — Staff reports



MACON — Georgia Farm Bureau recognized the best of the organization’s volunteers and county chapters during an awards program held Dec. 7, at the GFB 71st Annual Convention on Jekyll Island. The state award winners were honored for the programs they conducted this past year to promote agriculture.

"Our county volunteers are essential to the success of Georgia Farm Bureau,” said GFB President Zippy Duvall. “All of our volunteers are to be commended for the legislative breakfasts, farm tours, meet-the-candidate forums, and numerous other activities they organized during the past year to promote agriculture. Recognizing our outstanding county programs and volunteers is the highlight of the convention for me."

GFB named a McKemie Award winner — the highest honor given to a county in recognition of its outstanding member programs — from each of its three membership categories. Crawford County Farm Bureau received the McKemie Award for the 0 to1,800-member division. Edd Harris is president of the Crawford County Farm Bureau. Greene County Farm Bureau won the McKemie Award for the 1,801 to 3,000-member division. Dene Channell is president of the Greene County Farm Bureau. Cherokee County received the award in the 3,001-plus member division. Len Cagle is the outgoing president of the Cherokee County Farm Bureau. The McKemie Award is a memorial to one of the organization’s former presidents, W.J. McKemie.

Finalists in the McKemie competition, listed in alphabetical order, for the 0 to 1,800-member division were: Bacon, Jasper, Jeff Davis, Monroe, Pike, Screven, Taliaferro, Upson and Wilcox counties. Finalists for the 1,801 to 3,000-member division were: Bibb, Cook, Decatur, Floyd, Jones, Polk, Spalding and Washington counties. Finalists in the 3,001 plus-member division were: Barrow, Chattooga, Coweta, Habersham, Henry, Jackson, McDuffie, Madison and Newton counties.

The GFB Distinguished Service Award was presented to Charlie Frank Harris of Crawford County. This award is the highest honor GFB can give one of its volunteer leaders and is designed to recognize a volunteer Farm Bureau leader who has made an outstanding contribution to Farm Bureau and agriculture over a long period of time.

Harris has been a member of the Crawford County Farm Bureau since 1949. He served as county president from 1961 to 1962. He was elected as the CCFB treasurer in 1962 and still holds that position today. He has served on numerous committees for Farm Bureau and other agricultural organizations and currently serves on the GFB Water Advisory Committee. He is also a member of the Middle Ocmulgee Regional Water Council established by Georgia’s Comprehensive Statewide Water Management Plan and has served as the Ocmulgee River Soil & Water Conservation Supervisor since 1973.

In addition to his Farm Bureau activities, Harris, 80, is a lifelong member of Musella Baptist Church where he teaches Sunday school and serves as a deacon. He previously served on the Crawford County Board of Education for 22 years and leads the Crawford County Citizens for Scouting Troop #264. He and his wife, Betty, have three sons, Frankie, Edd and Steve and five grandchildren. A former dairy farmer, Harris now raises cattle and hay.

Cory and Janie Tyre of Bacon County were named the Young Farmer Achievement winners. The Tyres produce hay, wheat and soybeans on their farm near Mershon. Cory chairs the Bacon County Farm Bureau Young Farmer and Legislative Committees. Janie serves on the BCFB Women’s and Promotion & Education Committees. Both serve on the BCFB Board of Directors. They received a $500 cash prize from Dodge Truck and a year’s use of a Kubota tractor for being named the state winner.

Other finalists in the GFB Young Farmer Achievement Contest were Steven and Tiffany Metcalf of Turner County and Charlie and Nancie Sanders of Greene County. The Metcalfs grow cotton, peanuts, soybeans and wheat and cattle. The Sanders are active partners in their family dairy farm, which averages a 375-head milking herd.