GRAND RAPIDS, Nov. 29, 2006 – Brent Skinner of Hubbardston has earned Michigan Farm Bureau’s (MFB) 2006 Outstanding Young Farm Employee Award. This award recognizes a successful young agriculturalist for outstanding leadership in farming and the agricultural community, as well as a commitment to production agriculture.

Skinner was honored at MFB’s 87th Annual Meeting in Grand Rapids. MFB’s Young Farmer Awards pit 16 of the state’s best and brightest farmers, ages 18 to 35, in competition at the MFB Annual Meeting.

Berrien County potato farm manager Joel Layman of Dowagiac was first runner-up in the competition.

Skinner puts his agribusiness management education from Michigan State University to work as operations manager for a large grain company and cow-calf operation. On the grain side, he buys and sells corn and soybeans, managing 1.2 million bushels of storage capacity in addition to shipping and receiving functions. For the cattle operation, Skinner also shoulders the daily feeding and movement of cows in the 100-head facility. With a staff of four employees, he handles financial and state-reporting responsibilities for both companies and two additional affiliates.

Steering his success as a manager are Skinner’s prioritization of three key issues: overall profitability, environmentally conscious production, and achieving increased efficiencies in both assets and animals. Since its startup in 2005, the operation has grown to become both a good investment for its partners and affiliate companies, and a profitable enterprise on its own.

Skinner’s Farm Bureau involvement began with his local Young Farmer committee, which he now chairs. He took part in last year’s state-level Young Farmer discussion meet and is now enrolled in MFB’s ProFILE leadership development program. Skinner is also a board member for the Michigan Cattlemen’s Association, sits on that organization’s environmental committee, and this year earned its Young Cattleman of the Year award.

Skinner was awarded an all-expense-paid trip to Panama sponsored by Great Lakes Hybrids, a $500 cash prize from GreenStone Farm Credit Services, sponsorship to MFB’s 2007 Young Farmer Leaders’ Conference, and a trip to the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan. 7-10.

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