Ag News
Thurmond finishes second in AFBF Discussion Meet
Posted on Jan 30, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Cain Thurmond of Jackson County finished second nationally in the American Farm Bureau Young Farmers & Ranchers (YF&R) Discussion Meet to headline Georgia Farm Bureau’s entries in AFBF’s YF&R competitive events.
Cason Anderson of Houston County competed for the AFBF YF&R Achievement Award, which recognizes farmers who earn the majority of their income from production agriculture. Kaitlyn and Kaleb Marchant of Oglethorpe County vied for the AFBF YF&R Excellence in Agriculture Award, which highlights agriculturalists who earn the majority of their income from off-farm sources.
Georgia’s Cleve Jackson, of Floyd County, was named to the AFBF YF&R Committee for 2025. Jackson served the last two years on the GFB YF&R Committee, including the chairmanship in 2024.
Thurmond receives a $25,000 credit toward a new Case IH piece of equipment (value of $25,000). Case IH, located in Racine, Wisconsin, is the sponsor of the 2nd-place runner-up award. His second-place finish was the highest by a Georgia competitor since Steve Wilson of Henry County won the event in 1980. Thurmond was Georgia’s first Final Four qualifier since Becca Creasy of Bulloch County in 2019.
Abby Campbell of Ohio won the competition. In the Final Four round, she, Thurmond and other finalists Hayden Ballard of Utah and John Norwood of North Carolina sought ideas to facilitate access and ownership of agricultural land for beginning farmers.
The discussion meet is a series of committee-style meetings in which contestants hash over issues and solutions related to a specific ag-related topic. Thurmond emerged from a field of 32 contestants from across the U.S.
Thurmond is a system relationship manager with Farm Credit Services of America. He and his wife, Whitney, live in Jefferson. The Thurmonds own the Storey Garden & Grove, a Christmas tree farm scheduled to open winter 2026. They also have a small pecan orchard.
A first-generation farmer who lives in Perry, Anderson grows pecans on a total of 1,020 acres across multiple counties. He also grows sweet corn and provides custom farm work.
He serves on the Houston County Farm Bureau Board of Directors as the corporate secretary and YF&R chairman. He represented GFB’s 8th District on the state YF&R Committee in 2019-2021.
The Marchants won the 2024 GFB YF&R Excellence in Agriculture Award, given to recognize agriculturalists aged 18-35 who are active Farm Bureau members, promote agriculture in their community, and earn most of their income from something other than production agriculture.
The Marchants live in Winterville. Kaitlyn works for the Georgia Department of Education as the North Region ag education coordinator. Kaleb is pursuing a PhD from UGA and manages the beef and sheep unit at the UGA Double Bridges Farm in Winterville.
Thurmond, Anderson and the Marchants won the GFB competitive events last July. Look for entry announcements for the 2025 competitions this spring. For more information about the GFB YF&R program visit https://www.gfb.org/connect/young-farmers .
- Categories:
- Tags: