Mountain View High School vo-ag teacher wins Discussion Meet

ArFB President Randy Veach (l), Austin Kennon of Mountain View and ArFB Vice President Rich Hillman (r).

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Austin Kennon of Mountain View won the Young Farmers & Ranchers Discussion Meet at the Arkansas Farm Bureau 84th Annual Convention, Nov. 29 in Hot Springs. Kennon will now compete in January at the American Farm Bureau Federation conference in New Orleans.

“It was pretty exciting,” Kennon said about the event. “I enjoyed the process of the discussion meet more than the winning part.”

It was Kennon’s first time competing in the event. “You just put your mind to it, and do it,” he said.

The event provides a forum for young farm leaders to demonstrate their verbal and problem-solving presentation skills while they discuss their views on issues affecting agriculture. There were 13 competitors in the discussion meet.

Kennon, 34, won $7,000 courtesy of Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Co. He is an vo-ag teacher at Mountain View High School. Kennnon raises 25-30 club goats for 4-H youths to raise.

Earlier this year, Michael and Lauren Lee of Faulkner County won the 2018 YF&R Excellence in Agriculture Award. The award recognizes young farmers involved in agriculture who get the majority of income off the farm. Farm Bureau honored them in July at its annual Officers & Leaders convention in Rogers. Also honored were the 2018 YF&R Achievement Award winners Tyler and Randi McDonald of Lafayette County.

All winners also earned expense-paid trips in January to the American Farm Bureau Federation national conference this January in Nashville, where they’ll compete for national awards. The winners of the national YF&R Discussion Meet, Achievement Award and Excellence in Agriculture Award will receive a 2019 Ford truck and paid registration tothe FUSION Conference in Milwaukee, Wis., March 15-18, 2019. The runner-ups will receive a Case IH Farmall 50A tractor, courtesy of Case IH and the third place finalist will receive a Case IH 40” Combination Roll Cabinet & Top Chest and $500 Case IH parts card, courtesy of Case IH and $2,000 of Stanley Black & Decker merchandise (PROTO, Dewalt, Stanley, Lenox & Irwin) courtesy of Stanley Black & Decker. The fourth place winner will receive a Case IH 40” Combination Roll Cabinet & Top Chest and $500 Case IH parts card, courtesy of Case IH.

Arkansas Farm Bureau is a nonprofit, private advocacy organization of more than 192,000 families throughout the state working to improve farm and rural life.

For more information, contact:

Rob Anderson
(501) 228-1640
rob.anderson@arfb.com

 or

Gregg Patterson
(501) 228-1282
gregg.patterson@arfb.com