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by Lynn Snyder

The hard work paid off. At the 87^th annual meeting of American Farm Bureau in Nashville, Tenn., OFBF received the maximum five Awards for Excellence in recognition of its programs for members.

"The key to winning these is to demonstrate how, as an organization, we plan and develop programs that meet member needs and then show the results of our efforts," said OFBF Director of Member Services Dan Rapp, who coordinates the awards.

Awards were given for programs related to agricultural education and promotion, leadership development, public relations, member services and policy implementation.

The award criteria evaluate county member involvement, communications, planning, improvement in the programs from the previous year and results. States that win Awards of Excellence are eligible to win the President’s Award, which is given to programs that are the "best of the best" and recognize the most outstanding programs, based on states’ membership size. OFBF won four out of five possible President’s Awards in the areas of agricultural education and promotion, leadership development, member services and policy implementation. Ohio competes against states with similar membership size. Ohio Farm Bureau currently has more than 223,000 members.

Ohio was second only to Montana in earning President’s Awards; however, Montana is in a smaller membership category. A total of 25 President’s Awards were given. Twelve other state Farm Bureaus earned all five Awards of Excellence.

Approximately 130 Ohio Farm Bureau members attended the convention Jan. 7 through 11. AFBF membership stands at an all-time high of more than 5.6 million member families.

Caption: OFBF President Bob Peterson, left, accepts congratulations from AFBF Vice President Steve Appel. Ohio received five Awards of Excellence and four President’s Awards for outstanding programs in 2005.