Features Editor

A crowd of about 400 attended the annual Farm City Banquet at Cattleman Park Thursday night to recognize individuals who have excelled in their agricultural pursuits, those who are carrying on the farming tradition, those who support the agricultural industry and those who are the future of farming in Alabama.

Awards were presented to recipients

in the following nine categories: Poultry- Curtiss and Traci Shaver; Beef – Jessie and Edna Dorrill; Forestry – John and Carol Dorrill; Conservation – Kevin and Michelle Ward; Row Crop: Larry and Danita Richardson; and Service to Agriculture – James O. Johnson.

Nancy and Don Campbell received the Century Farm Award and William K. Thompson received the Century and Heritage Farm Award.

Anna Garrott and Williams Sanders III were named the Youths of the Year.

Carter Sanders was presented the T.R.E.A.S.U.R.E Forest Award.

Max Davis, chairman of the Pike County Chamber of Commerce Agriculture Committee said Farm City Week is an opportunity to educate the community about the role the farmer plays in providing food and fiber for all Americans and to emphasize the importance the "other side" plays in providing the needs of the farmer and in purchasing the products he or she produces.

"There is a strong partnership between the farm and cities communities and we honor that partnership," Davis said.

The total farm income for the year 2000 was $92.8 million. Poultry accounted from $60.4 million; beef, $10.2 million; forestry, $7 million, peanuts, $3 million and cotton $1.1 million.

Statewide there are 48,000 people who call themselves farmers. And for generations those few families have dedicated their lives to creating a $4.7 billion business – Alabama’s largest.

But today, agriculture reaches far beyond the farm gate. Alabama’s agribusiness industries account for 476,000 jobs with annual earnings of more tan $9 billion. That’s 21 percent of the state’s work force. In fact, 85 percent of all jobs created by agriculture are not on the farm at all. They include farm equipment dealers, seed and feed suppliers, food processors, exporters and retailers.

Together, these industries account for more than $43 billion or 23 percent of the state’s direct output – more than any other industry.

That is why Pike County joins the other counties of Alabama in celebrating Farm City Week Nov. 16-22.