Top Young Farmers & Ranchers named

LITTLE ROCK — Three families are finalists in Arkansas Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers & Ranchers Achievement Award competition.

They are:

• Jeremy and Megan Allen of Bismarck (Hot Spring County).  They have a feeder calf and laying hen operation.

• Josh and Melissa Cureton of Cash (Craighead County). They produce rice and soybeans.

• Brian and Elizabeth Walker of Horatio (Sevier County). The have a cow-calf operation, poultry and hay.

Arkansas Farm Bureau’s YF&R Achievement Award recognizes farmers and ranchers 18-35 for exemplary effort in farming and ranching, leadership and community involvement. The winning couple will be announced at Arkansas Farm Bureau’s annual convention Dec. 1-3 in Hot Springs. They will receive a Chevrolet Quad-Cab four-wheel-drive pickup truck. The winners also get an expenses-paid trip to the 2011 American Farm Bureau Federation convention in January in Atlanta, Ga. There, they will compete with YF&R Achievement Award winners from the other 49 states and Puerto Rico.