HERBSTS WIN TOP NATIONAL FARMING AWARD, SHOWING FAMILY FARMS ARE MAINSTAY IN OUR AREA

Area farm families and city folk alike can be proud of the showing of David and Leslie Herbst in the American Farm Bureau Federation's Young Farmers and Ranchers Achievement Award.

The Chaffee-area couple was chosen recently for the top national honor, which awarded a new pickup truck, an all-terrain vehicle and other prizes.

The Herbsts also won the Missouri Young Farmers and Ranchers Achievement Award and were among 37 other couples from around the country in the running for the national award. They were selected among nine others to be interviewed in the process that led to their being named the best farm couple in the country.

It is only the second time a Missourian has been chosen for the award. Sam Graves of Tarkio won it in 1991.

The Herbsts are the fourth generation of the family to work the farm on which they grow corn, soybeans, wheat and grain sorghum and use some innovative approaches to agricultural issues such as the environment and managing and renting land.

Congratulations are in order to a couple who has demonstrated that family farms remain a mainstay in Southeast Missouri.