CRAVEN COUNTY Young Farmers & Ranchers hosted its first Family Cookout on Feb. 25 at Core Creek FWB Church in Cove City.
CUMBERLAND COUNTY Farm Bureau announced, during its annual meeting on Oct. 24, 2011, the establishment of two scholarships for Cumberland County High School students interested in an agriculture career. The Cumberland County Farm Bureau has named the scholarships in memory of two Cumberland County Agriculture Hall of Fame Members. The Gordon M. Williams Memorial Scholarship and the J. McNatt Gillis Memorial Scholarship will each be awarded to a Cumberland County High School student who plans to study agriculture in either a four-year land grant university or a community college. The scholarships are each worth $1,000 and are endowed by the Cumberland County Farm Bureau and managed by the Cumberland Community Foundation, Inc. The scholarships’ first recipients are expected to be announced in May. The late Gordon M. Williams was president of the Cumberland County Farm Bureau for nearly two decades and was active in all aspects of farming and community service. Gordon Williams lived in Godwin and helped found the Godwin-Falcon Fire Department.
The late J. McNatt Gillis was a farmer and the secretary-treasurer of the Cumberland County Farm Bureau for approximately 40 years. He was a longtime Cumberland County commissioner.
FORSYTH COUNTY Farm Bureau and N.C. Cooperative Extension Service of Forsyth County hosted 40 Forsyth County elected officials, Farm Bureau Board members and other Forsyth agricultural leaders at the second Elected Officials Breakfast on Dec. 13. The program, “Issues in Agriculture in Forsyth County,” was designed to inform and update Forsyth County elected officials on the status of agriculture in the county, national and local issues affecting agriculture and the importance to all citizens of preserving local agriculture. The event was planned and coordinated by the Forsyth Farm Bureau Women’s Committee and was presided over by Forsyth County Farm Bureau President Edgar Miller. Among the attendees were N.C. Sen. Pete Brunsetter; Richard Linville, chairman, Forsyth County Commissioners; Gloria Whisenhunt, Forsyth County commissioner; Bill Schatzman, Forsyth County sheriff; Susan Frye, clerk of court; Myron Marion, Village of Tobaccoville; Sarah Welch, Walkertown Town Council; Elizabeth Motsinger, Winston-Salem Board of Education; Grover Mcpherson, Soil and Water Conservation District Board; Toby Bost, Soil and Water Conservation District Board; Dudley Watts, Forsyth County manager; and Dale Parker, Carolina Farm Credit.
FRANKLIN COUNTY Farm Bureau recently presented $5,000 to county 4-H agent Meg Wyatt as a donation for the 2012 4-H program. They also presented $500 to Franklin Soil & Water District Conservationist Quinton Cooper to help sponsor the Area IV Envirothon on March 23, where about 400 middle-and-high-schoolers were to participate in an environmental education competition.
