KEARNEY, NEB. – Adams/Webster County Farm Bureau member, Lance Atwater of Ayr is the winner of the 2021 Young Farmers and Ranchers (YF&R) Discussion Meet competition. The award was announced Dec. 7, at the “We Love Our Members” luncheon during Nebraska Farm Bureau’s (NEFB) 104th Annual Convention held Dec. 5-7 in Kearney.
Atwater received the top score of the contestants who advanced to the final round of the Discussion Meet contest. Rather than debating, contestants work to develop a solution to a problem being discussed, building on each other’s contributions. Competitors in the annual contest must be prepared to speak on several current agricultural related topics; the selected question is announced a short time prior to the contest round.
Atwater serves on the NEFB Board of Directors as the Youth At-Large representative. He grows yellow corn, popcorn, soybeans, and non-GMO white corn. Atwater lives on the family farm with his wife, Krystal, and son Ryker.
Atwater competed with three other contestants, Sean Krebs of Clearwater, Erin Norman of Crawford, and Clay Patton of Lexington. Krebs is an Antelope County Farm Bureau member and a recent graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, majoring in Agriculture Engineering. He grows popcorn, field corn, and soybeans, and raises cow/calf pairs on his family farm. Norman is a Dawes County Farm Bureau member and serves on the YF&R Committee. She is a teacher at Chadron State College and is a registered dietician. Norman lives on the family ranch with her husband, Luke, and their five children, Ada, Ben, Claire, Axel, and Ethan. Patton is a Dawson County Farm Bureau member. He is the Market Anchor for the Rural Radio Network at KRVN, and his wife, Janell, is a vet tech in their community. They live on a small acreage where they raise hay and goats.
Farm Bureau members between the ages of 18 and 35 can participate in the Young Farmers and Ranchers Discussion Meet competition. As a Nebraska winner, Atwater will receive $500 and an all-expenses paid trip to the American Farm Bureau Annual Convention in Atlanta, Georgia in January to compete in the contest at the national level. For more information, visit www.nefb.org/yfr
