By LINDA McGURK
Indiana Correspondent

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Two couples from Vigo and LaPorte counties won Indiana Farm Bureau’s (IFB) annual Young Farmer contests and will represent the state at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s (AFBF) National Convention in Atlanta, Ga., Jan. 9-12, 2011.

“I think they’ve got a really good shot. I’d be disappointed if they didn’t make the top 10,” said Chris Fenner, IFB’s leadership development coordinator, about this year’s winners.

Brad and Amber Burbrink of Vigo County won the Indiana Young Farmer Achievement Award, which recognizes young farmers who excel in their farm management practices and are involved in their communities, as well as Farm Bureau. Mark and Denise Scarborough of LaPorte County won the Indiana Young Farmer Excellence in Agriculture Award, which honors young people who are involved with agriculture, but derive the majority of their income from work off the farm. The awards were announced during IFB’s annual convention in Indianapolis on Dec. 10-11.

The Burbrinks farm about 4,200 acres of white corn, yellow corn, soybeans, seed beans and Vistive soybeans in partnership with Amber’s parents and brother. Brad, who is the president of the Vigo County Farm Bureau, married into the farm, where he works full-time. Amber is a stay-at-home mom and county PR coordinator who helps out as needed on the farm. “It’s always been a goal of ours to participate in the Achievement Award,” said Brad about entering the IFB competition.

Fenner said the couple won the award because they’ve done a good job managing their assets and made positive farm management decisions that have significantly grown the family farming operation.

“What set the Burbrink family apart is that they’ve really built on diversifying themselves to make sure there’s enough income to support everybody,” Fenner said about the jury’s selection. “Aside from the grain operation, they’ve become big in the tile industry. Another way of trying to diversify is that they’ve looked at some alternative crops like white corn, and high-oil corn and soybeans. They’ve been willing to take some risks in return for higher premiums.”

Their win netted the Burbrinks a $6,000 cash prize from Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance, a $500 cash prize from Dodge, 250 hours free use of a Kubota tractor and a $200 savings bond.

LaPorte County residents Mark and Denise Scarborough, who won the Excellence in Agriculture Award, farm 650 acres of corn, soybeans and seed corn on their own, and 300 acres in partnership with Mark’s uncle. Mark is an operating engineer in Kankakee, Ill., and Denise works at Farm Credit Services in Valparaiso, Ind. Aside from farming actively – Mark runs the day-to-day operations, while Denise helps with fieldwork, chemical applications, harvest and financial management – the Scarboroughs are passionate about educating neighbors as well as consumers about agriculture. They also feel government regulations is a critical issue for future farmers, because, “Government regulation is constantly changing, and it’s influenced a lot by consumers who have no experience with agriculture,” according to Denise.

The Scarboroughs have been involved with Farm Bureau since 2003 and Fenner said the couples’ community involvement really helped them win the award. “They’ve really excelled in using their circles of influence to make a positive impact on agriculture. They understand agriculture very well and they are extremely active in the community,” he said.

The Scarboroughs won a John Deere Gator, courtesy of Farm Credit Services, a $3,000 cash prize from IFB Insurance and a $500 cash prize from Dodge. “It really gave us an opportunity to sit down and reflect on our farming experience and how we’ve grown the operation and personally since we got married in 2003,” said Denise about her and her husband’s entry.

Also during the IFB convention, Leah Beyer, of Shelby County won the discussion meet. The topic for the final round was how Farm Bureau can encourage other agricultural groups to work together for the common good of the industry. Beyer won a $4,000 cash prize from IFB Insurance and $500 from Dodge.

Up next for all the winners is the AFBF national convention in Atlanta in January, where they will compete against other young farmers from all over the country. “(The national competition) is much different from the state level, because we know a lot about what people grow here,” said Denise, who has attended the national convention several times before. “When you compete on the national level, there are people from close to 50 states and they come from a wide array of agricultural sectors. We may compete against somebody growing pineapple or rice, crops that we don’t know much about.”

Indiana has done well in the national competition before, producing two national winners of the Achievement Award and two runners-up for the Excellence Award in recent years. “In the seven years that I’ve done this job Indiana has always had top-10 finalists. We’ve always competed very well,” said Fenner.
“We’re really excited to go and to represent Indiana,” said Brad. “You never know what’s going to happen, but hopefully we’ll bring home a pickup truck.”