<b>By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER<br>
Ohio Correspondent</b> </p><p>

COLUMBUS, Ohio — At the 2007 Ohio Farm Bureau Federation’s (OFBF) annual meeting Andy and Deanna Troutman, Wooster, were selected as the Outstanding Young Farm Couple, Tina Lust, Marion, won the Excellence in Agriculture Award, and Rose Dudgeon of Frazeysburg was the winner of the Discussion Meet.</p><p>

Outstanding Young
Farm Couple<br>

The award recognizes individuals or couples age 35 or younger for their accomplishments in their farming operations and their leadership in the agricultural community.</p><p>

The Troutmans own and operate a vineyard in Wayne County, complete with two retail sites and a wholesale operation to market their wine.</p><p>

Andy got interested in grapes as a 4-H project when he was 10 years old. Then at OSU he became interested in value-added agriculture.</p><p>

After graduation Troutman began working at a winery. When he and Deanna were married they moved back to Wooster “and we took over a little chunk of the family farm and planted a vineyard there,” Andy said. “We had an opportunity to buy the winery I worked for as well.”</p><p>

The couple grows about 14-acres of grapes for their wineries and they contract with other farmers to grow small plots of grapes which helps produce a better, local product, they said.</p><p>

Tourists visit the wineries for tastings.</p><p>

“We are able to educate them about how the wine is made, how it gets from the field to the bottle,” Deanna said. “Anybody that comes to the winery we do a tasting. Our staff (about 20 employees) educates the consumer as far as what grapes are in the wine.”</p><p>

They produce 30,000 gallons of wine and sell 80 percent of it on site. Their wine is also sold in retail stores throughout northeastern Ohio, they said.</p><p>

The Troutmans have two children, Sophia, age five, and Asa, two.</p><p>

The Excellence in
Agriculture Award<br>

The award recognizes successful people 35 or younger who are involved in farming but whose primary occupations are not farming or owning an agricultural business. </p><p>

Tina Lust is a territory sales manager with Midwest Seed Genetics. She started the dealership from scratch seven years ago with two customers. No one had ever heard of Midwest, she said.</p><p>

“Now I have a multi-million dollar business,” she said. “I work with farmers on a daily basis. I make corn and soybean variety recommendations for their farms always keeping in mind their farming practices and what fits best for them.”</p><p>

Lust is a State Certified Crop Adviser and said she attends training constantly to keep up with new technologies.</p><p>

Lust and her husband, Tom, have a son, Clayton, age six. She works with Tom on the production side of agriculture. They raise 5,300 acres of corn and soybeans. She also makes recommendations for their farm, does grid sampling and soil sampling.</p><p>

Lust said she was elated when she won the award.</p><p>

“It was quite an honor because all the other candidates were very good people. I was happy to be able to represent agriculture and women in agriculture,” she said.</p><p>

Discussion Meet
</p><p>
This contest tests participants’ subject knowledge, problem solving abilities and personal and small group communications skills. Finalists discussed the topic “In light of recent decisions affecting private property, what steps should be taken to secure the rights of property owners?”</p><p>

“Private property rights was the overall broad topic and within that we really focused on eminent domain and what we could do to protect property rights of the owners,” Dudgeon said. “It was a very interesting topic because it was one that was very timely.”</p><p>

“It (eminent domain) really is a personal issue,” Dudgeon said during the contest. “You have to know your rights, what you are entitled to, and then from there build awareness within the community and pull in outside resources like the Farm Bureau to really further address this issue.”</p><p>

Legislation was recently passed in Ohio to protect property rights, Dudgeon said. </p><p>
“We are fortunate to have property rights protected while other states aren’t so lucky,” she said. “Ohio has definitely been proactive in that movement to protect the rights of property owners.”</p><p>

Dudgeon operates a crossbred sheep farm with her mother, Margaret. She served as the 2004-2005 Ohio FFA President and is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education from Ohio State University.</p><p>
“I’m looking forward to getting back into a farming aspect,” she said. “There are a lot of options; I’m really interested in teaching high school agriculture or being involved in public relations for the agricultural industry.”</p><p>

All of these winners will represent Ohio in the national contest during the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting in New Orleans, La.