The Chautauqua County Farm Bureau was presented with four Silver Key awards at the New York Farm Bureau's state annual meeting.
The Silver Key Awards are presented to county Farm Bureaus that have exhibited excellence in a variety of categories relating to effectiveness in policy implementation, promoting agriculture amongst the public and in classrooms, leadership development, and membership building.
The awards were presented for excellence in the following categories:
Policy Development & Implementation - Local;
Policy Development & Implementation - State and National;
Agricultural Education and Promotion; and
Leadership Development.
While at the state annual meeting, farmer members also took part in the grassroots process of laying the groundwork for the year ahead. More than 100 delegates from across New York proposed, discussed and voted on resolutions that set the Farm Bureau's policy agenda for 2013.
They also heard from a number of state and national leaders including U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer; Darrel Aubertine, state agriculture commissioner; and Bill Magee, Assembly Agriculture Committee chair.
Keith Eckel, chairman of Nationwide Insurance, also spoke about the partnership between Nationwide and New York Farm Bureau.