Uintah County farm family wins Utah Farm Bureau Achievement award

Lee and Jayla Hanberg of Randlett, Uintah County were the winners of the Utah Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers (YF&R)'Achievement Award'. The award was presented at the recent Utah Farm Bureau Annual Convention and is considered the top honor for young farmers and ranchers in Utah.

The YF&R program helps young Farm Bureau members shape their future and American agriculture through leadership development and personal growth opportunities. Three competitions are held to enable members to showcase their leadership experience, communication skills and successful business plans as they compete against the best of the best from each state Farm Bureau.

The Achievement Award is a competition that recognizes those young farmers and ranchers that have excelled in their farming or ranching operations and honed their leadership abilities to superiority. Participants are involved in production agriculture with a majority of their income subject to normal production risks.

"We were thrilled to win this award," said Jayla Hanberg. "We are grateful for all Farm Bureau has offered us through education, experiences and knowledge, and we're excited to represent our county and state at the national level."

The contestants are evaluated on a combination of their farming operation growth and financial progress of operation, Farm Bureau leadership and leadership outside of Farm Bureau. More specifically, the judges look for excellence in management, growth and scope of the enterprise and self-initiative that are displayed throughout the operation.

Lee and Jayla live and farm in Randlett, where they grow premium alfalfa, grain corn, and have recently started a sweet corn business, which they sell locally. Lee also partners with his father on their family farm, where they produce grain corn, alfalfa, and wheat.

The couple are strong advocates for agriculture and helping those in her community and abroad to be familiar with how food gets on their plate.

"Competing for this award has been a great way to help us refine our agricultural business and improve as advocates for our industry," Lee Hanberg said. "It has been a great learning experience to participate in this competition, because there were a lot of other great candidates. This just shows how many high-quality, young agricultural leaders we have in Utah."

The Hanbergs, representing the Uintah County Farm Bureau, competed with eight other contestants from around the state for the award. For winning the Achievement Award, they received a John Deere Gator ATV courtesy of Western AgCredit and Stotz Equipment and will receive an expense-paid trip to the national American Farm Bureau's FUSION Conference in Denver this spring.

Lee and Jayla will also compete against Achievement Award winners from across the nation at the American Farm Bureau annual convention in San Antonio in January. National winners of the Achievement Award receive $35,000 credit towards a new Ford vehicle, courtesy of Ford. The runner-up receives $25,000 credit towards a new Case IH piece of equipment, courtesy of Case IH. Others receive prizes courtesy of Stanley Black & Decker.