Virginia Farm Bureau Federation honored six county Farm Bureaus Dec. 4 during its 2024 VFBF Annual Convention for projects conducted in their communities in 2024.

Frederick County Farm Bureau, led by President Steve Black, received a first-place VFBF County Award of Excellence for creating the Farm Explorer Passport Program to encourage visits to 10 participating farm markets. The county Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee designed and printed adult and child “passports” that were available at the markets and the local visitors’ center. Participants could pick up a passport, visit each farm market to get a stamp and earn a commemorative prize after they visited all 10 markets.

The goal of the program is to help reconnect the fast-growing Frederick County community with its rural roots, boost agritourism income and promote local agriculture and Farm Bureau. More than 1,500 visitors participated in the passport program in 2024.

The VFBF County Award of Excellence second-place winner was Rockingham County Farm Bureau, for its successful campaign to begin phasing out a local farm equipment and machinery tax. County Farm Bureau President Thomas Byrne led efforts by members to meet with local elected officials and explain how the tax put them at a competitive disadvantage in the region. Rockingham County currently is the only Shenandoah Valley locality with this tax.

As the result of an email campaign and other contacts by Farm Bureau members, county supervisors agreed to begin phasing out the tax in 2025.

The third-place winner was Charles City-James City-New Kent-York County Farm Bureau, which donated agriculture-themed children’s books to a local food bank. The books were included in food boxes distributed to families with young children and featured one of the foods in the boxes, enabling young readers to make a connection between their food and the farmers who produced it.

Chesterfield County Farm Bureau was awarded fourth place for its efforts to create a written memorandum of understanding between the farm organization and the local suburban government highlighting the importance of agriculture to the community.

Russell County Farm Bureau and Franklin County Farm Bureau tied for fifth place for their efforts to introduce agriculture to local schoolchildren.

With more than 135,000 members in 88 county Farm Bureaus, VFBF is Virginia’s largest farmers’ advocacy group. Farm Bureau is a non-governmental, nonpartisan, voluntary organization committed to supporting Virginia’s agriculture industry. View more convention news as it becomes available at vafb.com/convention, and follow us on social media via #VFBF24 #CultivatingConnections.

Contact Pam Wiley, vice president of communications, at 804-291-6315.