The Escambia County Farm Bureau Board of Directors, in collaboration with UF/IFAS Extension Escambia County Extension, EscaRosa Young Farmers and Ranchers and the Escambia County Women’s Committee, will hold the 2014 Escambia County Youth Farm Bureau Speech contest on Thursday, September 4,  at 4 p.m., at the Farm Bureau Building at 153 Highway 97, Molino.

The topic of this year’s speech is “Food security is an important issue to the people of the United States. How can Florida Agriculture continue to provide quality solutions for the future?}”

The speech time limit is five minutes for each personally crafted speech.  Competitors must be at least 14 years old and not over 18 years old on or before September 19, 2014, and must be a resident of Escambia County, Florida, but do not need to be a member of Farm Bureau.

Judges reserve the right to ask questions not to exceed more than three minutes per contestant.  The winner of the county contest will be asked to compete in the district contest. Escambia County Farm Bureau will help with the cost of transportation to the district meeting, and if the Escambia County contestant wins the district, Escambia County Farm Bureau will also help defray part of the cost to attend the state competition.

Anyone wanting to participate must contact Katrina Sanford at  (850) 587-2135, by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, September 2, to schedule a time for the competition.  To access the application and more information, along with resources that can be used for the speech contest visit  www.floridafarmbureau.org.

Pictured: Nort hview student Courtney Solari placed second in the state last year in the Florida Farm Bureau Speech Contest. She is pictured with Northview FFA Alumni President Angus Brewton (left) and Escambia County Farm Bureau President Jimmy Cunningham. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.