Overall winner — Brittany Coffee
I am a 21-year-old junior at the University of Arkansas studying Agricultural Communications. I’m originally from Gentry, AR. I was raised on a small family farm in Northwest Arkansas and have always been passionate about industry. At 16 I started my own photography business and as it has grown I’ve found my true passion is educating others about agriculture through photography.
The rancher in the photo is my best friend’s grandfather, Jim Reeves, from Leon, Kansas. I adore Mr. Reeves, aka Papa, so much. One afternoon this past summer we were out on the ranch and I felt a need to snap a quick picture of Papa. I like how the image is simple yet it says so much. To me it shows passion and wisdom learned from long, hard days tending to the land and the cattle. I love when an image can stand alone and tell a story and I believe this one can do that.
Agriculture winner — Meghan Anderson
My name is Meghan Anderson, a junior at the University of Arkansas pursuing a degree in Agricultural Education, Communication and Technology with an emphasis in communication. My degree plan consists of journalism and public relations. I’m currently taking the capstone course, Communication Campaigns in Ag, where my team of 5 other undergrads paired with a grad student are rebranding and launching a social media campaign for an art company in Idaho. I was raised on a broiler farm and small cow calf operation in Springdale, AR. During my experience in FFA, we started a boer goat herd. This spring, the fifth year, we had 10 healthy kids.
Photography has always been a hobby of mine. I took a Photoshop and design course my first year of high school and really enjoyed it. When I went off to college my mom bought me a DSLR camera and I take it everywhere. Portraits or candids, I take it all.
This photo was taken during the peewee showmanship competition at the 2014 Washington County fair, last August. I loved this shot because it was the end of the show, late in the day, the kids were dirty, tired and ready to be done. That tone is captured in the way the girl has her hand on her hip, being all sassy. I loved capturing this shot because any show kid knows this feeling, especially Arkansas ones. Arkansas heat really takes a toll on the kids and the animals. I just love the story this photo tells.
Natural resources winner — Paul Schumaker
I am 47 years old, and work for UF/IFAS Charlotte County Extension in Port Charlotte Florida as a Graphic Specialist. The photo was taken during a Master Gardener field trip to the University of Florida/IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center in Immokalee. As we made our way through the peach orchard, I saw what I thought was a large animal in one of the trees. When I got a little closer, I found it wasn’t one animal but rather three baby raccoons. I could see that they were not accustomed to all people and were about to make a run for it. I got as close as I could and began snapping photos and hoped I could get a good shot before the took off. This picture is the result — I really wanted to get all three in the photo but felt very lucky to at least have gotten this one.
Faces of agriculture and natural resources winner — Sumayya Allen
I am an Agroecology grad student at UF – but am a distance education student, which allows me to continue living and working in Atlanta. I am a permaculture landscape designer, urban farmer and garden educator, in addition to being a student and mother of three children. My calling to regenerative agriculture was discovered nearly 20 years ago while farming on a Pueblo reservation. For the past five years I have been involved locally with urban agriculture projects in Atlanta. It was while farming in the city that I discovered a muse for my photography – anything and everything related to growing! I snap shots of elders farming with children, ladybugs on cornstalks, okra blossoms, garlic braids hanging to dry, children documenting pea plant growth. Growing food, growing soil, and growing people.
The boy pictured is my youngest son. He spent a year homeschooling and a lot of time on site with me at various gardens and farms – birdwatching, chicken catching and snake hunting. At one event, my oldest son and a friend hosted a table where they showed folks how to make seed bombs and learn about their purpose. Seed bombs can be used in various ways – they are most popularly used in urban areas to ‘bomb’ vacant lots with wildflowers or beans or any other seed you want to mix in, to provide food and pollinator sources for wildlife. Needless to say, we made quite a few of our own to take home for future use. One day he went to check on the seed bombs and found they had sprouted! He was super excited and called me to look – I brought my camera along with me and got this shot, with no set up or anything. He immediately assumed this pose. I love that this photo was truly a natural and spontaneous moment.
One thing I love about the caption and photo is this idea of children ‘bombing’ the earth with seed bombs of wildflowers and food: guerrilla style as it is not a conventional or acceptable practice in many places. But there is a need to equip our children with the tools of spreading beauty and life and seed bombing is a fun place to start!
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