Fagundes wins national collegiate discussion meet

» March 1, 2004 «

Merced County young farmer Molly Fagundes is the American Farm Bureau Federation's 2004 Young Farmers and Ranchers Collegiate Division Discussion Meet champion. She received the honor at the American Farm Bureau's YF&R Leadership Conference in Salt Lake City.

Fagundes competed with three other finalists in addressing the topic, "How should Farm Bureau plan for their future with a diminishing farm population?"

The competition, for undergraduate college students majoring in an agricultural field, is a new AFBF contest. Competition is held by state Farm Bureaus and the winners advance to the national competition. Fagundes won the California Farm Bureau competition at the organization's annual meeting in Long Beach last December.

"We're very proud of Molly's accomplishments and congratulate her for representing California so well," said CFBF President Bill Pauli. "We have an exceptional group of young farmers in the Golden State who have demonstrated through their skills that are they preparing to lead California agriculture in the years ahead."

Fagundes is a junior at California State University, Fresno, where she is majoring in agricultural communications. She is a past state Future Farmers of America officer. She is a native of Atwater, where she grew up on a family farm.

Fagundes receives a $1,000 AFBF scholarship.

Information about the CFBF Young Farmers and Ranchers Collegiate Discussion Meet program for 2004 is available at county Farm Bureau offices or by calling Sarah Mora, the federation's YF&R state coordinator, at (916) 561-5603.

Contact: Dave Kranz
Phone: 916/561-5550
news@cfbf.com

Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this item.