ELIGIBILITY
The Kentucky Farm Bureau Education Foundation will award county and state college scholarships to high school seniors for the current school year.  Scholarships may be applied to tuition, housing, books, and other educational expenses.  Payments will be made directly to the college, university, or proprietary school of your choice.

To be eligible, applicant must:

• Be the child of a Kentucky Farm Bureau member and remain such while the scholarship is in force
• Finish high school within the year they apply for the scholarship
• For the Leadership in Agriculture Scholarship, applicant's parents must be actively engaged in production ag

Those not eligible are the children of:

• Kentucky Farm Bureau Claims Personnel
• Kentucky Farm Bureau State Board Directors
• Kentucky Farm Bureau State & District Employees
• Kentucky Farm Bureau State Women's Advisory Committee Members

Please note: Children of Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance Agency Managers, Agents, Agency Secretaries and CSRs are only eligible for the Kentucky Farm Bureau Insurance Agents Association Scholarship and should utilize this application to apply for the scholarship.

RULES

• Recipient may enter any accredited college or trade school
• Recipient must enter college as a beginning freshman no later than the fall semester following high school graduation, unless a circumstance beyond the student's control, such as serious illness or injury, prevents enrollment at that time.  In such a case, recipient must enter college by the spring semester of the following year.
• Dropping out of school, except for serious illness or injury, shall cause the recipient to lose the scholarship.  
• Winner must be a full-time student each semester unless an exception is requested in writing and approved.
• Winner is required to annually furnish a transcript before additional monies are sent to the college.
• Student must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5 after each semester or forfeit the award.  (Only beginning freshmen will be given a second chance to improve their overall GPA.)
• All application materials must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) ON FEBRUARY 28, 2025
• The scholarship committee will make the final determination on all cases concerning the interpretation of these rules.  All applications become the property of the Kentucky Farm Bureau Education Foundation and will not be returned.

KFB 2025 SCHOLARSHIP DESCRIPTIONS

SCHOLARSHIP CHECKLIST

START THE APPLICATION PROCESS

Agriculture In The Classroom is a nationwide program to help students in grades K-12 gain a broad-based knowledge of the food and fiber system. Agriculture is the number one industry in the state and over 400,000 Kentucky jobs are agriculture-related.

• Regional Teacher Workshops - For over twenty years, Kentucky Farm Bureau has provided educators with a variety of teacher training and professional development opportunities designed to better enable participants to incorporate agriculture into their daily core curriculum. More specifically, teachers learn the value of using agricultural related material to teach Mathematics, Social Studies, English and Science through real life application. Register Here. For more information regarding these and other available agricultural literacy opportunities, please contact Scott Christmas at Scott.Christmas@kyfb.com or via phone at (502) 495-5000.   
• Farm Bureau Volunteers - Assist in planning farm tours and school ag fairs, make classroom presentations and inform you about new ag education programs.
• Lesson Plans - The Kentucky Agriculture and Environment in the Classroom, Inc. works with agricultural, environmental, and educational partners to produce and distribute Kentucky-based and standards-aligned resources and programs that showcase how our Kentucky farmers utilize our natural resources to produce sustainable food and renewable goods. All our lessons and programs can be used as teaching supplements in all subject areas. More information can be found at  www.teachkyag.org.
• Excellence in Ag Literacy Award - This award is designed to recognize and reward teachers who excel in their efforts to incorporate agricultural concepts throughout their core academic studies..

The Institute for Future Agricultural Leaders (IFAL) Program is a unique five-day summer leadership conference that exposes students to college life and explores different fields of study for careers in agriculture. IFAL allows high school juniors to choose between separate conferences at two of Kentucky’s premier universities. This year’s IFAL conferences will be held June 15-19, 2025, at Murray State University in Murray and June 22-26, 2025, at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.  

The IFAL program helps students become more familiar with Farm Bureau, promote agricultural-related career choices, provide leadership development opportunities, and promote each participating university. 

IFAL Guidelines:

• Students may state their preference concerning which IFAL session they wish to attend. However, stating a preference does not guarantee selection to a specific conference. No one will be assigned to an IFAL conference they did not initially select without personal contact with, and approval from, the student or a family member.

• The conference is only for students who are currently high school juniors.

• Kentucky Farm Bureau and the universities will only accept the 45 most qualified applicants for each IFAL conference, so be selective in whom you nominate. The student must be enrolled in a pre-college curriculum.

• Applications must be submitted by Tuesday, April 1, 2025 to be considered. Incomplete applications will not be accepted. 

• Students should be transported to and from IFAL by a parent, guardian, youth advisor or Farm Bureau representative. If a student drives, his or her car keys must be given to the Farm Bureau representative on-site for safekeeping.

• Approval for each student applying will be asked via email to a county Farm Bureau official for acceptance. The county’s approval is their guarantee to pay for the student’s registration for the program. County Farm Bureaus will be invoiced following the IFAL conferences.  Please do not send payment prior to receiving an invoice. The fee is $400.00 per participant.

If you have any questions, please contact Taylor Nash at (502) 495-5000, ext. 37374, or via e-mail at Taylor.Nash@kyfb.com

IFAL Application

The purpose of the Outstanding Farm Bureau Youth Contest is to promote youth involvement in county Farm Bureau activities and to recognize leadership, achievements and awards in their schools and communities.

Contestants must...

• Must be 14 years old at the time of the county contest, but not have reached 19 years old, by January 1 of the following year;
• Be a member of Kentucky Farm Bureau and represent the county in which the parent/guardian has their membership;  
• Submit a contest application, along with a certified copy of school grades for the past two years and a listing of extra-curricular activities, to the women's chair of his/her county Farm Bureau by the deadline;  
• Represent the county at the district contest held between October and November annually;  
• Represent his/her district at the state competition at the Kentucky Farm Bureau State Annual Meeting in Louisville in early December, if selected as one of the 11 district finalists (male and female).

There are two areas of competition:

• Personal interview
• 2-minute prepared speech related to agriculture or Farm Bureau

Contestants will be judged by three people with backgrounds in youth work and/or agriculture.
 

OFBY Prizes

• County/District Awards - Prizes awarded in varying amounts.
• District Awards - Outstanding Farm Bureau Youth Winners - $100*
• State Awards-All state contestants will receive a 26" wheeled duffel bag

*Participation in the state contest is a requirement to be awarded this prize.

Winners:

•  $3,500 scholarship 
•  Watch
•  Luggage
•  Trip to Washington, DC on the Congressional Tour in February

Runners-up

• Portfolio
• $300

Congeniality

• $100

OFBY Application 

2025 OFBY Handbook

• Be 9 years old at the time of the county contest, but not have reached 19 years old, by January 1st of the following year;
• Be a member of Kentucky Farm Bureau and represent the county in which the parent/guardian has their membership (for group acts, 50% of the group members must meet this requirement);
• Submit an application to the county Farm Bureau women's chair by the deadline;
• Represent the district at the state variety showcase at the Kentucky Farm Bureau Annual Meeting, in Louisville, if selected as a district winner.

District variety contests are held in conjunction with the Outstanding Farm Bureau Youth competition. The variety act may be in any performance area: vocal, instrumental, dance or drama. An act can represent the district only one year at the state variety showcase.

Variety Showcase Prizes

• County/District Awards - Prizes awarded at the discretion of the county/district.
• State Awards - All 11 district acts perform at the KFB State Annual Meeting. Each act is awarded $250 at the conclusion of the program.

Variety Showcase Application

Eligibility & Purpose of Exhibit:
In order to encourage more teachers to incorporate agriculture themes in their classroom instruction, especially in science, Kentucky Farm Bureau offers students in grades 4-8 an opportunity to participate in the trade show of its annual meeting which attracts approximately 2, 000 Farm Bureau members from across the state. Other groups such as 4-H clubs and FFA chapters are also eligible.

Judging Criteria:
Eleven student representatives from across the state will be selected to exhibit their agriculture science projects at the trade show. There is no limit on the number of applications submitted per county, however, only one representative will be chosen per district to participate at the KFB Annual Meeting Trade Show.

Selection of the science exhibits will be based on the following criteria:

• Creativity - 25 points
• Skill - 15 points
• Agricultural Accuracy - 20 points
• Scientific Thought - 25 points
• Clarity & Thoroughness - 15 points

Categories:
The following types of projects may be selected: experiment, demonstration, research, apparatus or collection. Students are encouraged to enter projects which they may have completed for science fairs earlier in the school year. A separate project does not have to be completed specifically for this event. Projects may be from these categories:

• Biological Sciences (Plant or Animal)
• Environmental Sciences (Natural Resources, Earth Sciences, Energy Production and Management)
• Food Sciences and Nutrition
• Engineering Sciences

Science Exhibit Prizes
Each student exhibitor will receive $125 and a recognition plaque for participation in the trade show. Participation in the trade show, during the KFB State Annual Meeting in December, is a requirement to be awarded the prize.

Ag Science Exhibit Application

Regional Teachers Workshops