Ag News
YF&R award winners prep for national competition
Posted on Dec 17, 2025 at 13:26 PM
Coffee County’s Walt Pridgen, Bibb County’s Haley Scruggs and Kylie Sizemore of Franklin County, winners of the Georgia Farm Bureau (GFB) Young Farmers & Ranchers (YF&R) 2025 competitive events, are preparing for national competitions to be held at the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Annual Convention in Anaheim, California, in January. They were first announced as winners at the GFB YF&R Summer Leadership Conference in July and will be recognized at the upcoming GFB Convention on Dec. 7.
The YF&R program helps young Farm Bureau members shape their future and American agriculture through leadership development and personal growth opportunities. These competitions enable members to showcase their leadership experience, communication skills and successful business plans as they compete against the best of the best from each state Farm Bureau.
As part of the YF&R competitions, the top four competitors in the AFBF Achievement Award, Discussion Meet and Excellence in Ag areas will receive:
Winner* (First Place) receives:
• $35,000 credit toward a new Ford vehicle (value of $35,000)
**Ford, located in Dearborn, Michigan, is the sponsor of the awards.
• Paid registration to the Farm Bureau® YF&R Leadership Conference in Portland, Oregon, March 13-16, 2026.
Runner-up** (Second Place) receives:
• $25,000 credit toward a new Case IH piece of equipment (value of $25,000)
**Case IH, located in Racine, Wisconsin, is the sponsor of the runner-up awards.
Finalist** (Third Place) receives:
• A $2,500 Investing in Your Future cash prize, courtesy of AmericanAg®
**AmericanAg™, located in Schaumburg, Illinois, is the sponsor of these finalist awards.
• A Case IH branded safe (approximate MSRP of $1,800)
**Case IH, located in Racine, Wisconsin, is the sponsor of these finalist awards.
• $2,500 worth of DeWalt merchandise, courtesy of Stanley Black & Decker (PROTO, DeWalt, Stanley, Lenox & Irwin)
**Stanley Black & Decker, located in New Britain, Connecticut, is the sponsor of these finalist awards
Finalist** (Fourth Place) receives:
• A Case IH branded picnic set(approximate MSRP of $1,370)
**Case IH, located in Racine, Wisconsin, is the sponsor of these finalist awards.
Pridgen won the YF&R Achievement Award, given to recognize farmers and ranchers aged 18-35 who earn most of their income by farming.
Pridgen, who served as chairman of the GFB YF&R Committee in 2022, is a fifth-generation farmer who owns and operates Seven Creeks Farm and partners with his father, Jeffrey, to operate Claw Hill Farms. He raises broilers (chicken grown for meat) and cattle and grows hay and corn for feed. Pridgen has a bachelor’s degree in diversified agriculture from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. He and his wife, Mary Elizabeth, live in Broxton with their son.
Scruggs won the Excellence in Agriculture Award, which honors agriculturalists aged 18-35 who are active Farm Bureau members, promote agriculture in their community, and earn most of their income off the farm.
Scruggs, who is president of Bibb County Farm Bureau, has served on the BCFB Board of Directors since 2018 and served as vice president the past three years. She and her husband, Seth, have served on the GFB YF&R Committee the past two years.
In addition to being a nurse practitioner who specializes in vascular surgery, Scruggs helps run her family’s farm, producing pecans, hay and Christmas trees on about 80 acres. She regularly welcomes the public to the farm to educate consumers about agriculture.
Kylie Sizemore, from Franklin County, won the YF&R Discussion Meet, a four-round series of committee-style dialogues focusing on ag issues. Sizemore emerged from a field of 24 competitors to win the competition.
Sizemore works for Cobb-Vantress as a Hatchery Operations Associate. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in poultry science from the University of Georgia and is pursuing a PhD from Auburn University in poultry science. She and her husband, Willie, live in Carnesville.
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