Winners announced in 2021 National Ag Day video contest

National Ag Day, March 23, is dedicated to celebrating the abundance provided by agriculture. It’s a time for producers, agricultural associations, companies, universities, government agencies and countless others across the U.S. to recognize the contributions of agriculture.

This year, Berks Agricultural

Resource Network (BARN), with the help of some of its partners, hosted the 2021 Ag Video Contest. Contest sponsors were Friends for Sen. Judy Schwank, and Berks County Commissioners Chairman

Christian Leinbach.

For the contest, students in grades 3-12 were invited to share their thoughts about farming in the form of 2-minute video submissions. Six submissions were received, regaling viewers with the attributes of potatoes, brussels sprouts and more. The videos, which were due March 17, are meant to help teach the students and their audience where their food comes from and the important role agriculture plays in our everyday lives.

Judges were Schwank; Timi Bauscher of The Nesting Box Market & Creamery in Kempton; and Lolly Lesher of Way-Har Farm Market in Bernville.

Videos were grouped into three categories based on the students’ grade.

The elementary question (grades 3-5) was, “What is your favorite vegetable? Show us!”

The middle-school question (grades 6-8) was, “What do you love about ag?”

The high school question (grades 9-12) was, “Has your family changed the way they shop for food during the COVID-19 pandemic?”

The first-place winner from each grade group was awarded a $50 gift card, sponsored by Schwank and Leinbach. The winners were recognized Tuesday during BARN’s virtual annual meeting. Other prizes include free ice cream from BARN member farm stores.

Winners:

First-place elementary winner: Reeves Moyer, a fifth-grader, Kutztown School District

First-place middle school winner: Austin Oxenreider, a seventh-grader, Gov. Mifflin

School District

First-place high school winner: Charlotte Fisher, an 11th grader, Oley Valley School District

Honorable Mention:

• Levi Oxenreider, a fourth-grader, Governor Mifflin-Cumru Elementary

• Phoebe Stutzman, a seventh-grader, Kutztown Area School District

• Hailey Blatt, an eighthgrader, Conrad Weiser Middle School

See the videos here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMqo_ArIVbIKBriWEA0LKV3G8TN7w-OWA

MEDIANEWS GROUP Hailey Blatt, an eighth-grader at Conrad Weiser Middle School, shown on her family’s North Heidelberg Township farm in July, won honorable mention in the 2021National Ag Day Video Contest sponsored by Berks Agricultural Resource Network (BARN).

Austin Oxenreider, right, won first-place in the middle school category of the 2021National Ag Day Video contest sponsored by Berks Agricultural Resource Network. He’s shown in his winning video from 2019 and is a Gov. Mifflin seventh-grader in 2021.