SPRINGDALE, Ark. — The Outstanding Young Farmers Awards were announced on Feb. 11 at the Springdale Holiday Inn in Springdale, Ark., as part of the annual Young Farmers’ Congress.

This in turn was part of the Young Farmer Program Conference, sponsored every year by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce.

The event started on Feb. 9 with a welcome banquet and reception; the next day was occupied with tours, and that evening featured a Mexican dinner and dance for the visiting farmers.

These included the 10 finalist couples who had been narrowed down as possibly in line to receive the Outstanding Young Farmer award. Awards were decided and handed out that Saturday.

The eligibility criteria stated nominees must be between 21-40 years old and must derive a minimum of two-thirds of their income from farming. No two awards may be presented to recipients in the same state during the same year.

According to event literature, the program’s purpose “is to bring about a greater interest in the farmer, to foster better urban-rural relations … and to inform the agribusiness community of the growing urban awareness of farmers’ importance and impact on the American economy.”

Master of ceremonies for the awards was farm radio broadcaster Dr. Orion Samuelson, who is based in Chicago and has been broadcasting for 51 years on WGN. The 2012 award winners were Brian and Renee Schaal of Wisconsin, Troy and Bobbie Jo Uglem of North Dakota, Paul and Joy Tallamy of New Jersey and Andrew and Karlie Bowman of Illinois.

The Bowmans live in northern Knox County near Oneida, Ill., where they farm approximately 2,300 acres of soybeans and corn, in cooperation with Andrew Bowman’s father. The younger Bowman began farming when, at the age of 12, he raised a five-acre corn crop he recalls selling for $2.13 a bushel.

Several years later he was named FFA American Star Farmer and went on to earn a degree in crop science from the University of Illinois. His wife, Karlie, works as a media manager for a seed corn company as well as handling the marketing and publicity for the farm operation.

“I was actually nominated by the Galesburg Area Jaycees,” Andrew Bowman said, referring to the local Junior Chamber of Commerce, of which Karlie’s brother is a member. Bowman explained a farmer can be nominated for the award by a Jaycee, a county extension ag agent, a previous winner of the award or by an honorary member of the Outstanding Farmers of America (OFA) Fraternity.

The Fraternity is composed of past nominees of the program, including those who did not actually win the final award. The Fraternity is led by a president who is always a past winner of the award.

Bowman is the secretary of the Knox County Corn Growers Assoc. and an active member of the FFA Alumni, and both he and Karlie are active Farm Bureau members. The Bowman farm is also home to a limited amount of crop research, particularly on fungicide treatments and prophylactic insecticides.

The operation is no-till, using biotechnological traits as the primary method of competition control rather than tilling. Erosion control and soil conservation are also objectives of the methods used.

The Schaals, from near Burlington, Wis., were selected largely because of their high-tech methods of operation and their ability to remain in the black despite these expenses.

The farm is now a partnership between Brian Schaal and his father, with Renee being a part-time farmer as well as working off-farm as a risk management specialist.

After getting a bachelor’s degree in dairy science and travelling in the Netherlands to study European dairying practices, Brian returned to the farm and introduced more machinery and technology to the operation. Wheelbarrow feeding and daily manure hauling were replaced by TMR rations and 30-day manure storage, and a variable-speed vacuum pump and bulk milk tank were added to the milking barn.

Artificial insemination, GPS mapping and nitrogen stabilizers were also introduced, but the farm was still able to manage fairly well during the milk price dropout of 2009, as it showed through financial records.