Louisville, KY (December 7, 2012) – In a competition measuring the total impact of a county Farm Bureau’s programming, Madison County Farm Bureau has emerged as the overall winner for 2012. Madison County’s leaders received a trophy today at the 93rd Kentucky Farm Bureau annual meeting, held at the Galt House Hotel in Louisville, honoring them as the state’s “Top County.”

The “Top County” announcement headlined more than 100 membership program and insurance honors presented during an awards breakfast this morning. Madison County, which has 6,795 members and a variety of successful service programs, was also honored as the Top County in the membership category for counties with more than 4,200 members. Bath County (2,863 members) received recognition among the counties with 2,601 to 4,200 members, and Wolfe County (2,118 members) won top honors among counties with 2,600 or fewer members.

In other award presentations:

• Outstanding County Farm Bureaus were designated in nine of Kentucky Farm Bureau’s 11 districts. The recipients were: Breathitt, Carter, Lyon, Madison, Ohio, Russell, Scott, Shelby and Warren Counties.
• Bath, McCreary and Warren Counties received Top Growth Awards for having the largest percentage of membership gain from 2011.
• Pacesetter Awards were given to counties in the three membership size classifications that were the first to achieve a membership gain during the year. The large county award went to Warren County, followed in size by Ohio and McCreary Counties.
• Nine counties won honors for having the highest member retention totals in their districts. Those winners were: Allen, Breathitt, Campbell, Cumberland, Madison, McCracken, Ohio, Shelby and Wolfe Counties.
• Allen County was honored for having 50 consecutive years of membership growth.
• Powell County was recognized as the Most Improved County Farm Bureau.
• Three awards were given for most effective county Farm Bureau information programs. Logan County won first place, Jackson County was second and Hardin County was third.
• Six counties won awards for policy growth and profitability produced by their local Farm Bureau insurance agencies. These counties – Clark, Carroll, Franklin, Lee, Simpson and Trigg – came closest to the growth goal set for that county.

With nearly 500,000 member families statewide, Kentucky Farm Bureau is the state’s largest general farm organization. Approximately 1,700 members attended KFB’s 93rd annual meeting, December 5-8, to recognize this year’s individual and organizational achievements as well as adopt policy for 2013.