Award Winner:

Loudoun County woman named 2008 Farm Bureau Ambassador

Kathryn Amanda Virts of Loudoun County was chosen as the 2008 Virginia Farm Bureau Ambassador.

Virts was selected Nov. 26 at the 2007 Virginia Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention in Chantilly. She will receive a $1,000 scholarship sponsored by the VFBF Women’s Committee.

The 19-year-old Virginia Tech sophomore is the daughter of Daniel and Patricia Virts. She plans to pursue a master’s degree at Virginia Tech, where she will major in agriculture extension.

Her family’s 15-acre farm produces sheep, pigs and goats. Virts’s responsibilities include taking care of the animals, shearing and clipping the sheep and mixing feed.

Virts is president of the Loudoun County 4-H Goat Club and past president of the Loudoun Valley High School FFA Chapter.

“I would like to show others the value of 4-H and all the things they can learn,” Virts said. “I would also like to be a county extension agent and use my animal science knowledge to help farmers.”

The purpose of the Virginia Farm Bureau Ambassador program is to recognize a young woman for her interest and achievements in agriculture and provide her with an opportunity to serve as an ambassador for agriculture and Farm Bureau in the coming year. The program previously was called Miss Virginia Farm Bureau: Ambassador for Agriculture.

With 148,000 members in 88 county Farm Bureaus, VFBF is Virginia’s largest farm organization.

Farm Bureau is a non-governmental, nonpartisan, voluntary organization that supports its members through legislative lobbying, leadership programs, commodity marketing and risk management services, insurance products and other benefits.