Award Winner:

Augusta County student is Outstanding Young Agriculturalist

Augusta County honor student Brandon Reeves has been named the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation Outstanding Young Agriculturalist Award recipient for 2007.

The 17-year-old Buffalo Gap High School senior received the award Nov. 26 at the VFBF Annual Convention in Chantilly. He has a 3.9 grade point average and plans to attend Oklahoma State.

Reeves is a member of the National Honor Society, the Moscow Church of the Brethren Youth Group and the Buffalo Gap baseball team. He is also the president of the Buffalo Gap FFA Federation and North River 4-H Chapter, and secretary of the Augusta FFA Federation. He is a recipient of the Outstanding 4-Her award for Augusta County and Farm Bureau’s Mary Francis Houff award.

Reeves’s on-farm experience includes working on his family’s large-scale cattle operation, where he manages 15 cows with his younger sister. He also works for his dad’s hay hauling business.

“Ever since I first became involved in 4-H and FFA, I have made the most of my opportunities to be successful and promote my understanding of agriculture,” Reeves said. “Through research and talking to successful people in the cattle industry I have been able to produce high-quality show cattle that are competitive across the state.”

Reeves will receive $250 from Virginia Farm Credit Associations; $250 from the VFBF Young Farmer Committee; $250 and a plaque from the VFBF Women’s Committee. District winners received $100 from Virginia Farm Credit Associations.

The VFBF Young Farmer Committee began the Outstanding Young Agriculturalist Award in 1989 to recognize high school juniors and seniors for academic, community and agribusiness achievement. The competition encourages students to evaluate their progress and career goals and to pursue involvement and leadership opportunities in agribusiness.

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.