The Farm-City Committee of the Pike County Chamber of Commerce met Tuesday to discuss plans for the annual Farm-City Week activities and other upcoming activities.

Pike County participates annually in National Farm-City Week, which celebrates the important partnership between farm and urban residents in providing the nation with a bounty of food, fiber, fuel and a growing list of other products.

Farm-City Week traditionally begins on the Friday before Thanksgiving and ends on Thanksgiving Day.

This year, Farm-City Week will be Nov. 16-22 with the annual Pike County Farm-City Banquet on Nov. 15 at Cattleman Park.

Annual Farm-City Week activities also include a themed poster contest for grades K-6 and a themed essay contest for grades 7-12, the Farm-City Swap and a mini-farm that visits local schools.

Tammy Powell, chair of the poster and essay committee, said a multi-media contest has been initiated on the national level and polled the group as to whether the committee wanted to offer this contest to local schools.

“It’s all about computers and PowerPoint presentations that would appeal to some of the upper level students, grades 9-12.” Powell said. “The contest would also be open to students at the center for technology. There could be a lot of interest or no interest.”

The committee agreed that the multi-media contest would be worth a try.

The committee also discussed options for the mini-farm tour. It was suggested and agreed upon that the Agriculture Academy at Goshen High School would be an avenue of interest for the tour.

The committee agreed to participate in the annual Peanut Butter Festival in Brundidge and the Pike County Fair. The committee will have an agricultural display at both events and is considering an entry in the Peanut Butter Festival’s Nutter Butter Parade, the last Saturday in October.

Kathy Sauer, Chamber president, discussed the Farm-City Awards that recognize those who have made outstanding contributions to agriculture during the year.

“We are also considering two ‘city’ awards – a business service award and a retail business award,” Sauer said. “The retail award could actually be two awards – one for larger businesses and one for smaller businesses. However, we’ll probably stay with one award this year.”

Max Davis, chair of the Farm-City Swap, asked for suggestions of names of those who would make interesting “swaps.”

“A representative of the farming community and a representative of the urban community actually swap places for a day and one learns from the other,” Davis said.

Several suggestions were made and the committee will extend an invitation to the two selected.

Davis also brought committee members up to date on the Century and Heritage Farm recognitions.

“A Century Farm is a working farm that has been in the same family continuously for 100 years,” Davis said. “The Heritage part of the recognition includes a structure that is 40 years old or older.”

Davis said Century Farms awards are prestigious recognitions.

“Pike County has more Century Farms than any other county in the state,” he said. “That says a lot about our farming community.”