Stan and Suzanne Wood receive the Farm Family of the Year award. / W.C. Mann
CULLMAN – At its annual banquet Thursday evening, the Cullman Farm-City Committee named Stan and Suzanne Wood of Riverwood Farms in Bremen as the 2018 Farm Family of the Year.
The Farm-City Committee chooses a Family of the Year each year, rotating between choosing a Farm Family and City Family.
In nominating the Woods for the honor, the anonymous person wrote, “Talking with Stan and Suzanne, I feel that they know they have been graced by God with the land that they care for. And God has provided them the opportunity to be shining examples of what it means to be stewards of His land. It is an opportunity they have not taken for granted.”
The Woods’ business is, appropriately, wood. On a 4,000-acre farm along the Mulberry River near Bremen, the family cultivates timber as part of an industry whose farms cover almost half the acreage of Cullman County, with annual sales that often rival those of the county’s cattle industry. They also raise corn, soybeans, sunflowers and wheat on 400 acres of their farm, and support populations of local wildlife, especially game animals who feed on crops left in the field throughout the year.
The Woods were 2014 recipients of the Helene Moseley Memorial Treasure Forest Award for what Farm-City Chairwoman Lynda Hankey described as “their commitment to good land stewardship and education, and they do this by investing in our community, hosting educational trainings in collaboration with many organizations, including FFA’s Forestry Judging team, the Boy Scouts of America, Soil and Water Conservation, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, the North Alabama Agriplex, the Alabama Natural Resource Council, and many more.”
The committee took time to recognize the next generation of farmers and supporters of agriculture with youth awards and the children’s poster contest.
Poster Contest winners
K-3rd grade
Lyric Antone, West Point Elementary School
Mason McDonald, Good Hope Elementary School
Latham Shuford, Cold Springs Elementary School
4th-6th grade
Elaina Agnello, Sacred Heart School
Boston Gibbs, Holly Pond Elementary School
Mattie Wix, Good Hope Elementary School
Fifth-grader Mattie Wix was the overall poster contest winner, and could qualify to compete at the state level where she has already taken first place honors once, during the 2015-16 school year.
Youth awards
Outstanding FCCLA Member was shared by Rachel Haynes and Jessica Roden of Cold Springs High School.
Colby Tyree of West Point High School was named Outstanding 4-H Member.
Sydni Benefield of Holly Pond High School, and Paige Quick of West Point High School shared the title of Outstanding FFA Member.
The Farm-City Banquet kicked off Farm-City Week which runs annually from the Friday before Thanksgiving through Thanksgiving Day. Its purpose, according to the committee’s website, is “to bring about a better understanding between rural and urban people by increasing their knowledge and appreciation of each other as partners in progress.”
For more information on Farm-City programs, visit www.cullmanfarmcity.org.
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