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Dustin Sonnenberg, Henry County, is the 2001 Discussion Meet winner. He and his wife, Cheryl, are the parents of one son, and raise feeder calves for freezer beef and Dustin also assists on his in-laws' farm in neighboring Hancock County. Sonnenberg teaches agriculture at Patrick-Henry High School.

The Discussion Meet is a contest to develop critical thinking through group discussion and problem solving. Contestants are judged on their abilities to discuss a given problem, draw other participants into the conversation and work within the group to arrive at a solution.

The round robin semifinals of the competition were held at this summer’s OFBF Leadership Conference. From those competitors, four finalists were chosen to compete at the state finals during the annual meeting. The other finalists were Roger Baker, Wayne County; Angela Emmons, Fulton County; and Amanda Miller, Tuscarawas County.

The topic for discussion was "What are the pros and cons of government support programs?"

This is Sonnenberg's second year to compete in the state finals. For his efforts, Sonnenberg won a Seth Thomas walnut mantle clock, a gold pen, a $500 award from Dodge, a $1,000 award from Nationwide and an expense-paid trip to the American Farm Bureau annual meeting in Reno to compete in the national discussion meet.

Sonnenberg said he was "surprised and honored" to win. "There was good competition, neat people and a lot of good points made in the discussion," he said.

One key point that Sonnenberg said the group discussed were ways Farm Bureau members can shape the future of farm programs. He pointed to the OFBF Farm Bill task force as a good grassroots effort.

"Farm Bureau has always been a part of my life. The more I learn about the organization and seeing some of the positive things it has done, not only in Ohio, but across the board, I'd like to be associated with an organization like that."