The Agribusiness Committee of the Greene County Partnership held their 32nd Farm-City Banquet last night at the First Baptist Church.
FFA high school students Kaytie Hoxie (President) from Chuckey-Doak, Walker Weems (Vice-President) from North Greene, Julia Fanning (Secretary) from South Greene, Weston Brown (Treasurer) from West Greene, McKinlee Weems (Reporter) from North Greene, Brayden Seaton (Sentinel) from South Greene, and Chuck Michel, FFA Advisor at North Greene Highschool, all led the banquet with the opening ceremonies.
Chairman of the Agribusiness Committee Justin McKinney thanked all who helped make the event happen like Rhonda Humbert, Jessica Poore, and Barbara Sell. He also extended his thanks to First Baptist Church and to all sponsors, who actually donated several prize items for the ticket raffle that was held. McKinney said the foundation was formed in 1993 and has been giving out scholarships since 1997. He said up to date, scholarships have been given to 47 students with a total of $43,000.
Retired University of Tennessee Extension Director Steve Hale, who has presented the awards for years, presented the award for J. W. Massengill Distinguished Service to Agriculture. The award was given to Sally Causey, who has been a Executive Director in the Rural Resources Farm and Education Center from 1996-2021. Before working in rural resources she was the Assistant Civic Arts Project Director at Tusculum University from 1992-1994. She has her Bachelor of Arts Degree (BA) at the University of North Carolina and Master of Arts in Education Degree (MA) at Tusculum University. She was very thankful to have received the award and said it’s been a privilege to work with the kids in the community.
The second award, Robert C. Austin Distinguished Service to Community, was not given to anyone this year. The original winner has had some health issues, and was not able to attend. The award will be presented next year and Steve Hale mentioned there might even be two awards for that category. The next Farm-City Banquet has already been set for November 9th 2023.
