Ashtabula County Farm Bureau’s annual meeting was held Sept. 16, at The Winery at Spring Hill in Geneva, in conjunction with the Ashtabula County Soil & Water Conservation District.

Ashtabula County 2019 Scholarship winners are Allison Magyar and Mason Mazzaro. Allison is the daughter of Jeff and Mary Beth Magyar of Orwell and is a sophomore at The Ohio State University, pursuing a degree in animal sciences.  Mason is the son of Thomas and Charity Mazzaro of Williamsfield and is a freshman at The Ohio State University pursuing a degree in agribusiness and applied economics. Both recipients, who were away at school, were represented by their parents at the annual meeting.

Farm Bureau Special Awards

The Ashtabula County Farm Bureau recognized Jeff and Carol Ring of Ringbyre Farms with its Innovative Farmer Award. 

The Innovative Farmer award is about people, the knowledge, technology, infrastructure and cultures they have created or learned, who they work with and what new ideas they are experimenting with. Jeff and Carole spend a great deal of time researching, gathering information and then executing new technology on their family dairy farm. We applaud them for their innovation, their dedication to agriculture and for sustaining their farm for future generations.

The Farm Bureau Partner of the Year award was started to recognize individuals, businesses or organizations for the service, commitment and support of the Farm Bureau mission to advance agriculture and strengthen our communities. Pymatuning Valley FFA and Advisor Tom Mazzaro were awarded the Partner of the Year Award for 2019.  

The county Farm Bureau also awarded the 2019 OFBF County Member of Distinction Award. The member is selected for the work put in to make the county Farm Bureau as great as it is. This could be someone who has done great work this past year or someone who has done great work over a lifetime. In early July, the nomination and unanimous designation of Lee Kellogg was made for his dedication of 45 years of membership, over 25 years as a board trustee, and for serving 10 years as president of the Ashtabula County Farm Bureau. The board worked hard that meeting to keep the designation a secret with the hopes of surprising Lee only to receive a call two weeks later that he had unexpectedly passed away. This year, the Member of Distinction selected from Ashtabula County was the late David “Lee” Kellogg. Lee was an asset to the county Farm Bureau, always striving to make sure the county was making the best decisions on behalf of its members and making no qualms when he didn’t approve of something. Lee was passionate about helping area farmers, encouraging and supporting youth, and making sure county leaders and officials were well informed on issues agriculture faces. Lee was known as a strong, quiet and humble man who wasn’t afraid to stand up for what he believed in. His presence will be greatly missed at Farm Bureau and in the agricultural community.

Trustee/Delegate Elections

Terry Atkinson, Jayne Bodnar, Sara Frank, Michael Hiener, Debra Hurst and George Kalas were all re-elected as board trustees and Laddie Marous was elected as a new board trustee. Delegates elected for the 2020 Ohio Farm Bureau Annual Meeting were Jason Hayes, Debra Hurst and Courtney Spencer with Terry Atkinson as an alternate.

The slate of policies for the upcoming year all passed, which will be used to form some of the county’s programming for 2020.

Purchases at the 4-H Livestock auction totaled $2,182.70 for 2019.

The annual meeting was an outstanding event, full of honoring wonderful members, volunteers and youth.