Greene County’s Mark and Cindy Klepper win state young farmer honors

Greene County young farm couple Mark and Cindy Klepper were named Tennessee Farm Bureau’s Outstanding Young Farmer and Achievement Award winners during special ceremonies  at the Tennessee Young Farmer Summer Conference. The young row crop, cattle and poultry farmers from the Baileyton community, competed against 14 other county contestants in state competition held at the headquarter offices of the Tennessee Farm Bureau in Columbia, Tenn., to be named the state winners and have the opportunity to compete for national honors in January.
 
Mark and Cindy were named this year’s winners based upon farm and financial records from the farm year 2013. The Kleppers farm 1700 acres in Greene County. Their major crops are corn, soybeans and hay. They are contract growers for Koch Foods where they raise more than 920,000 broiler chickens a year. They also have a beef cattle operation where they raise nearly 100 cows.
 
Both Mark and Cindy have been very active in the Young Farmer and Rancher program, as well as the Greene County Farm Bureau and their community. Mark has served on the Board of Directors of the Greene County Farm Bureau since 2008 and was state chairman of the Tennessee YF&R in 2009. Both are very active in their church. The Kleppers have two children.
 
The Klepper family receives a year’s free use of a brand new Case/IH tractor up to 150 hours. They also receive $500 from Tennessee Farm Bureau, a fully loaded RTV to keep from Tennessee Farm Bureau, an insurance policy to cover the tractor for one year from Farm Bureau Insurance of Tennessee and a trip to the American Farm Bureau Convention in San Diego, California in January 2015, where they will compete for national honors with other state winners. The national winner will get their choice of a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado or 2015 GMC Sierra, courtesy of GM and paid registration to the 2015 YF&R Leadership Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Three national runners-up will receive a Case IH Farmall tractor, courtesy of Case IH, and a $2,500 cash prize and $500 in merchandise courtesy of STIHL.

 
For more information, contact Melissa Bratton, editor TN Farm Bureau News. mbratton@tfbf.com