Washington, DC (June 24)-Meet the winners of our Farm Foto Contest! Allison Boggs, Kimberly Crawford, and Kayla Ferris beat out more than 100 other farm photographers to take first, second, and third place, respectively, in the first-ever Hand That Feeds U.S. photo competition. We took some time to chat with each of them to find out the stories behind their winning photographs.
Allison Boggs, 1st Place
Allison, of Martin, South Dakota, snapped "Little Helper" at the Mosher Ranch where she and her family live. Allison's husband, Chris, works on the ranch, and their one-and-a-half year old, Cassie, loves to help him. On a snowy December day last year, Cassie joined her dad to check on the cattle, prompting Allison to capture the special moment between father and daughter. Our judges loved adorable little Cassie in her pink snowsuit holding Chris's hand, not to mention the beauty of the ranch covered in snow. This wonderful photo captures the importance of teaching our farming techniques to the next generation. 
Certain critics of modern-day agriculture long for the days of small farms, limited pest and weed control application, inefficient methods, and old school equipment. They blame our environmental woes on the practices that enable farmers to feed the world's growing population and insist that production agriculture must be shifted to organic and local farming in order to save the planet—never mind that food production would drop dramatically, leaving untold numbers of people without proper nutrition.
Each year on the 4th of July, Americans get together with family and friends to celebrate the birth of our nation. Our country's founding fathers probably wouldn't have been able to imagine what America would look like more than 234 years after they signed the Declaration of Independence, but they certainly were right about one thing: the importance of farming to America and its ability to propel our fledgling nation into one of the world's superpowers.
