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Show Coveted Star Farmer Award Given to Four Rural Youths . i r ; CTAO w f Xo-T'V?X 7arme . mm " ' ) ' ' H I . a . : - OUTSTANDING YOUNG FARMERS . . . Winners of Star Farmer of America awards, highest honors accorded to Future Farmers of America Amer-ica members, were announced at the Kansas City convention. Upper photo: William G. Carlin of Pennsylvania, who won the title; lower photo, from. left to right, are the sectional winners: Brody Lee Koon of Texas, Paul H. Smart of Kentucky and Dennis O. Heitman of Nevada. Top Honor Goes To Pennsylvania High School Boy By W. J. OKYDEN HN'U Farm Editor. Outstanding young farmer of the United States is 20-year- old William G. Carlin of i Coatesville, Chester county, : Pa. He has won the title of i Star Farmer of America most coveted honor that can I be won by an American farm bov. Of what stuff are champion farm-j farm-j ers made? In the case of William i Carlin the answer would be summed j up in a statement of his zeal, his enthusiasm, and his attention to de-i de-i tail in developing a run-down farm , into a high producing enterprise, i The award was made at the recent re-cent National Victory convention of Future Farmers of America held at Kansas City. Carlin was chosen from among the 200,000 boys studying study-ing vocational agriculture in high schools of the country, who make up the membership of the F.F.A. Farming in. partnership with his brother on 190 acres of land, Carlin has made an outstanding record in bringing run-down j farm land back into production. His accomplishments in soil rehabilitation re-habilitation are cited as examples exam-ples for farmers throughout the ounty. In 1940 the Carlin brothers took over a farm owned by their father and previously operated by tenants. Through the years the land had been literally "farmed out," with severe gully erosion present and with the soil in poor condition. Purchase New Farm. Through their classes in vocational vocation-al agriculture in high school, these boys learned what had to be done to bring such land back into good production. Land that had produced only 25 bushels of corn to the. acre in 1939 brought a yield of 55 bushels in 1942. By 1944 they had accumulated accumu-lated enough profits to buy 90 acres of land with a house and farm buildings. build-ings. Today the farm is a going business, with assets of nearly $15,-000. $15,-000. Its resources include 145 head of beef cattle, 15,000 chickens, 50 market hogs, 50 acres of corn, 65 acres of hay and 25 acres of oats and barley. Billy Carlin has been active in the affairs of his community. He is a member of the farm bureau, farmer's exchange, co-operative exchange ex-change and grange. In 1944-45 he was president of Pennsylvania Association Asso-ciation of Future Farmers of America. Amer-ica. Kentucky Boy Wins. Central region winner of the Star Farmer of America award, Paul H. Smart, 20, of Versailles, Woodford county, Ky., was chosen from among 55,000 Future Farmers in 13 central states. His first farming venture began be-gan six years ago, when he was 14 years old, with four lambs and a small crop of tobacco. From this small beginning, the enterprise en-terprise has expanded until it now includes 20 head of beef cattle, 70 head of sheep and extensive" crop acreages in tobacco, corn, soybeans and lespedeza. Smart has served as a director of Kentucky Farm Bureau federation federa-tion and Purebred Livestock Breeders Breed-ers association. First Nevada Winner. , Dennis O. Heitman, 20, of Gard-nerville, Gard-nerville, Douglas county, is the first Nevada' boy to win the Pacific region re-gion award of the Star Farmer, being be-ing selected from among 25,000 Future Fu-ture Farmers in 11 western states. He has complete responsibility for the management of a 1,500-acre cattle cat-tle ranch owned by his mother. Heitman began his first farming program with four heifers and a quarter acre of corn when he entered en-tered high school in 1940. From this small beginning his program has been expanded from annual profits on the projects. Today his assets include 30 head of beef cattle, 60 swine, 40 sheep and some 20 acres of growing crops. Texan Gets Award. Outstanding young farmer of the year in the South is Brody Lee Koon, f9, of Brashear, Hopkins county, Tex. The young Texan was selected from among 95,000 Future Farmers in the southern region. Koon already al-ready is established in farming as one of the outstanding dairymen of northeast Texas. A farming program pro-gram that began with one Jersey and has expanded into a herd of 55 registered Jerseys, along with a general gen-eral crop program on 255 acres which he bought last year from prof its on his projects, brought Koon the Star Farmer award. In seven years he has realized a net profit of over $16,000 from his own projects, proj-ects, nearly all of which he has reinvested re-invested in expanding his program. Outstanding as a community leader lead-er as well as in farming, Koon has served as a director of Northeast Texas Dairy association, director of the Dairy Herd Improvement association asso-ciation and vice president of the Texas F.F.A. association. Honor War Victims. More than 15,000 farm boys from every state in the Union, Puerto Rico and Hawaii were present at Kansas City when the awards were presented. The Victory convention honored the more than 4,000 members mem-bers and past members of F.F.A. who lost their lives in World War II. Future Farmers of America is the national organization of farm boys studying vocational agriculture. Main objectives of Future Farmers of America are to develop de-velop agricultural leadership, co-operation, citizenship, improved im-proved agriculture and patriotism. patriot-ism. In the emblem of Future Farmers of America, the owl is symbolic of wisdom and knowledge; the plow is the symbol of labor and tillage of the soil; the rising sun is emblematic of progress, and the day that will dawn when all farmers are trained and have learned to co-operate; the cross-section of an ear of corn represents rep-resents common agricultural interests, inter-ests, since corn is native to America Amer-ica and grown in every state, and the eagle is indicative of the national na-tional scope of the organization. Their motto: "Learning to do, doing do-ing to learn, earning to live, living to serve." |
