The Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year Award is one of the most prestigious honors in Southeastern agriculture.

Ten winners from ten states participate in the program, coming from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

State winners receive a $2,500 cash and an expense-paid trip to the Sunbelt Expo from the sponsors. A vest from the Sunbelt Ag Expo will be given to each state winner and nominator. The Moultrie Colquitt Co. Chamber of Commerce will give each state winner a local keepsake.

The state winners are now eligible for the $15,000 cash prize awarded to the overall winner by the sponsors. Massey Ferguson North America will provide each state winner with a gift package and the overall winner with the use of a Massey Ferguson tractor for a year or 250 hours (whichever comes first). A jacket from the Sunbelt Ag Expo will be given to the overall winner. Hays LTI will award the overall winner with a HAYS Smoker/Grill. In addition, the overall winner will receive a Henry Repeating Arms American Farmer Tribute Edition rifle from Reinke Irrigation.

Only one will get tapped as the top Southeastern Farmer of the Year, but neither the farmers nor the general public will know until it is announced at the Sunbelt Ag Expo in Moultrie, Ga., Tuesday, Oct. 17.