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The Pike County Farm-City Committee received the Best Farm-City Committee Runner-Up Award at the Alabama Farm-City Awards Luncheon and Program in Birmingham on Thursday.

Pike County Farm-City Committee Chairman Traci Shaver accepted the award from Alabama Farm-City Committee Chair Jeff Helms and expressed appreciation for the opportunity to be a member of the statewide committee that seeks to strengthen and promote the relationship between the urban and rural communities throughout Alabama.

 The Pike Count Farm-City committee also earned the Best Civic Club Activities Award. Committee member Abby Peters received the Alabama Farm-City Service Award. Peters earned the Farm-City Service Award for going above and beyond the call of duty as county Extension coordinator. Peters organized a touch-a-tractor event for students, coordinated virtual activities during the pandemic and delivered cookies to Troy Regional Medical Center as part of a Farm-City project.

County Farm-City activities were judged in two divisions. St. Clair County won the overall award among larger counties — population over 35,600 — while Franklin County took top honors among smaller counties. Alabama Farm Credit sponsored county awards for the second year providing $300 for each division winner, $200 for runners-up and $100 for division awards.

Bridge builders from Franklin and St. Clair counties took top honors at the Alabama Farm-City Awards Program for their work to cultivate understanding between farmers and their urban neighbors. 

Alabama Farm-City Committee Chairman Jeff Helms said the 2021 theme, “Down To Earth: Agriculture Sustains Alabama,” was a rallying cry for county educational activities. 

“Down to Earth highlights our shared responsibility for protecting the environment,” Helms said. “It reminds all Farm-City participants of their connection to Earth. Most importantly, Down to Earth provides a forum to understand the importance of sustaining farms and forestland for future generations. To do so, farmers must have the resources, tools, markets and financial opportunity to succeed.”

Farm-City Week was conceived in 1955 and is observed each year the week before Thanksgiving. Alabama’s 2021 observance was the primer for a year-long Down To Earth educational campaign developed by the Alabama Farmers Federation and other agricultural organizations.