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The Prahls from Marathon County win the top young farmer award.

December 10, 2018

5 Min Read
Ryan and Lindsey Prahl and Jim Holte
YFA WINNERS: Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation President Jim Holte (right) poses with Ryan and Lindsey Prahl during the organization’s annual meeting. The Prahls received the Young Farmer and Agriculturist Achievement Award.

Marathon County, Wis., farmers, Ryan and Lindsey Prahl were selected as the winners of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation’s Young Farmer and Agriculturist Achievement Award at the organization’s 99th annual meeting on Dec. 2.

Farm Bureau’s Achievement Award is a contest that awards farmers between the ages of 18 and 35, who have excelled in their farming career, understand current issues affecting agriculture, and have shown leadership and involvement in Farm Bureau and other civic organizations.

The Prahls are fifth-generation dairy farmers in rural Wausau in Marathon County. Together they juggle the dairy and an emerging custom business. They have three children: Lydia, Warren and Audrey.

The Prahls are involved with the St. John’s Lutheran Church and school in Easton. In their free time, Ryan and Lindsey enjoy volunteering for agricultural organizations. They are members of the Badger 4-H Club and active members of the Genex and Foremost Farms cooperatives.

The Prahls will compete at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 2019 annual convention in New Orleans. In addition, Rural Mutual Insurance Co. provides a free financial plan, Fabick Equipment Inc. provides 40 hours use of a Fabick skid-steer loader, and the winner is invited to the Growmark Inc. annual meeting in August.

The other Achievement Award finalists were Josh and Ashley Claussen from Brown County; Dustin and Ashley Ellis from Buffalo County; and Brian Douglas from Dunn County.

Discussion meets
Kelly Wilfert of Manitowoc County was selected as the winner of the 2018 WFBF Young Farmer and Agriculturist Discussion Meet at the group’s annual meeting.

The Discussion Meet contest is a panel discussion in which Farm Bureau members between the ages of 18 and 35 are judged on their ability to express their ideas and opinions and reach a solution on current issues affecting agriculture. 

Wilfert grew up on a vegetable farm in Two Rivers. She is a student at the Wisconsin Law School in Madison. She earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison before returning to attend law school.

She is a director on the Manitowoc County Farm Bureau board and interns at Investors Community Bank. She served as a state FFA officer, worked on the Exhibit Development Committee for Farm Wisconsin Discovery Center and served AFBF as an intern in Washington, D.C.

Wilfert will represent Wisconsin at the AFBF annual convention. Each Discussion Meet finalist received a jacket courtesy of Growmark. The other finalists included Jenny Leahy, Fond du Lac County; Julie Sweney, Dodge County; and Kallie Jo Kastenson, Racine County.

Kati Kindschuh was selected the winner of WFBF’s Collegiate Discussion Meet contest. The Collegiate Discussion Meet is a panel discussion in which collegiate Farm Bureau members are judged on their ability to lead a committee discussion on current issues affecting agriculture and to develop consensus on an action plan to effectively address issues.

Kindschuh is a senior at UW-River Falls, where she is studying agricultural marketing communications and agricultural business. She grew up in Brownsville on her family’s 65-cow dairy farm, where she found her love for Holstein and Jersey cattle while exhibiting at the Fond du Lac County and Wisconsin state fairs. After graduation, she will be employed by United Cooperative as a marketing communication specialist.

By participating in the Collegiate Discussion Meet, members build basic discussion skills, develop a keen understanding of important agricultural issues, and explore how groups can pool knowledge to reach consensus and solve problems.

Kindschuh received a $1,500 scholarship courtesy of Growmark and will represent Wisconsin in the National Collegiate Discussion Meet held in conjunction with the American Farm Bureau Fusion Conference in Milwaukee in March.

Second runner-up in the Collegiate Discussion Meet was Heidi Smith. Third runner-up was Casey Lobdell. Both Smith and Lobdell are students at UW-Platteville. Second- and third-place finalists each received a $500 scholarship courtesy of Waukesha County Farm Bureau. Other finalists included Rachel Gerbitz and Emily Matzke from UW-Madison and Jacob Timm from UW-River Falls.

Holte re-elected president of Wisconsin Farm Bureau
Jim Holte has been re-elected to a seventh one-year term as the president of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation and Rural Mutual Insurance Co. He raises beef cattle and grows corn, soybeans and alfalfa on 460 acres of land near Elk Mound in Dunn County.

Holte was first elected to the WFBF board of directors in 1995 to represent District 9 (Superior Shores, Barron, Chippewa, Dunn, Pierce, Polk, Rusk, Sawyer and St. Croix County Farm Bureaus). Holte and his wife, Gayle, have two children and five grandchildren.

Kevin Krentz of Berlin in Waushara County was elected to a one-year term as vice president and re-elected to a three-year term on the board representing District 5 (Adams, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Juneau, Marquette, Waushara and Winnebago counties).

Dave Daniels of Union Grove in Kenosha County was re-elected to a three-year term on the board representing District 1 (Jefferson, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth, Washington and Waukesha counties).

Robert Nigh of Viroqua was elected to a three-year term on the board representing District 3 (Crawford, Grant, Iowa, Lafayette, Richland and Vernon counties). He succeeds Richard Gorder from Mineral Point, who served in this seat for 21 years.

Nine of the 11 members of the WFBF board of directors are farmers elected in each of Farm Bureau’s nine districts. These nine individuals also make up the board of directors for the Rural Mutual Insurance Co. Rounding out the WFBF’s board are the chairs of the Young Farmer and Agriculturist and Promotion and Education committees, both of which serve a one-year term. Andrea Brossard of Burnett in Dodge County was re-elected to represent the Promotion and Education Committee. Julie Wadzinski of Rice Lake in Barron County was elected to represent the Young Farmer and Agriculturist Committee.

WFBF board directors who were not up for re-election are: Arch Morton Jr. of Janesville in Rock County, Joe Bragger of Independence in Buffalo County, Rosie Lisowe of Chilton in Calumet County, Adam Kuczer of Pulaski in Shawano County and Don Radtke of Merrill in Lincoln County.

Source: WFBF

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