SOURCE Magazine Winter 2023 | Page 23

“ For me , this achievement is about letting people like me , females and moms with an agriculture profession , know that you can still accomplish so much and be a great mom and grow your career ”

Legacy Farmers Cooperative

Employee Wins National Award

SOURCE | Winter 2023 21

“ For me , this achievement is about letting people like me , females and moms with an agriculture profession , know that you can still accomplish so much and be a great mom and grow your career ”

Chris Grogan , GROWMARK Publications and Media Relations Manager cgrogan @ growmark . com
For Stacie Anderson , working as the agronomy sales manager at Legacy Farmers Cooperative keeps her days quite busy . Yet it ’ s her family ’ s growing side business that is garnering national attention with Anderson winning the 2023 American Farm Bureau Excellence in Agriculture Award .
The Excellence in Agriculture Award spotlights young Farm Bureau members who are agricultural enthusiasts but have not earned a majority of their income from an owned production agriculture enterprise in the past three years . Competitors are evaluated on their understanding of agricultural issues , leadership experiences and achievement , and their ability to communicate their agricultural story .
State University where she earned her undergraduate degree in agribusiness and applied economics and a master ’ s degree in agricultural communications .
Anderson says the direct-to-consumer products business grew quite quickly during the COVID period , growing to three employees , weekly customer deliveries , and selling more than 10,000 eggs to their local community last year .
“ We started with a handful of meat birds a few years ago , and last year ended up delivering around 200 Thanksgiving turkeys as well ,” says Anderson .
Along with being a 4-H advisor , Anderson is the co-chair of a county fair livestock sale , and helps organize a self-driving farm tour that brings out more than 2,000 people to visit different agribusinesses in the area .
“ I ’ m really lucky because I feel like all of those things flow together for me ,” adds Anderson . “ It really comes full circle for me , and I ’ ve been able to make an impact with something I ’ m passionate about and grew up doing . And it brings people together to work for the betterment of our industry .”
As the champion of the national contest , Anderson received a $ 35,000 credit toward a new Ford vehicle and paid registration to the AFBF FUSION Conference in Jacksonville , Florida , courtesy of Ford .
“ For me , this achievement is about letting people like me , females and moms with an agriculture profession , know that you can still accomplish so much and be a great mom and grow your career ,” Anderson says . “ Ohio Farm Bureau has been such a great vehicle for me to be able to do that , and I hope that my success in this contest inspires someone else to take that chance too .”
For Anderson and her family , that enterprise is called Anderson ’ s Farm Products and includes everything from eggs , beef , pork , and even Thanksgiving turkeys .
“ We actually started it as a hobby to help feed our three kids when we moved back to northwest Ohio to my family ’ s farm ,” adds Anderson . “ With my dad retiring , my husband started working with my uncle on the farm .”
Anderson grew up on her family ’ s farm raising corn , soybeans , wheat , and specialty crops , while participating in 4-H and FFA . She is a graduate of Ohio