KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Full-time farmers across Tennessee can now apply to be named Tennessee Farmer of the Year for 2027, a program run jointly by the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture and the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation.
Entries are judged by region, using the state’s three grand divisions of East, Middle and West Tennessee. One finalist will come from each, and a panel of judges will visit their farms before naming a single statewide winner.
The prizes grew this year. The overall winner gets $50,000 toward a Ford truck, plus a two-person trip, all expenses covered, to the national Farm Bureau convention held in January 2028, and travel costs for a tour of duty. The two other regional winners will each get use of a Case IH Farmall 120A, a cab-equipped four-wheel-drive tractor fitted with a loader, for a year or 150 hours, whichever comes first, an award worth $9,000.
To qualify, an applicant must be at least 21 and must earn the main share of their income from a full-time crop, livestock or other production operation. Applications are due March 1, 2027, through the Farm Bureau.
Finalists will be honored at a ceremony June 12, 2027, in Franklin. The winner is expected to appear at farm events through the year, including the Tennessee State Fair, the institute’s Ag Day and the Farm Bureau annual meeting.
The award was overhauled in 2026. Its first winner under the new format was a seventh-generation Robertson County grower whose family has worked the same land since 1806. That operation crosses into Sumner County and Kentucky and grows a mix that includes tobacco, wheat, corn and soybeans along with canola, barley, pumpkins and watermelons. He was honored in June and received a Can-Am utility vehicle valued at $30,000 along with a convention trip.
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