KEARNEY, Neb. – Lindsey Stern of Broken Bow, a Custer County Farm Bureau member, was named the winner of the 2017 Young Farmers and Ranchers Discussion Meet competition. The award was given Dec. 5, at the Membership Recognition luncheon during the Nebraska Farm Bureau’s 100th Annual Convention held Dec. 3-5 in Kearney, Neb.

Stern, received the top score of the contestants who advanced to the final round of the Discussion Meet contest. Rather than debating, contestants work to develop a solution to a problem being discussed, building on each other’s contributions. Competitors in the annual contest must be prepared to speak on any number of agriculture-related topics; the selected question is announced a short time prior to the contest round. She works in Compliance at the Nebraska State Bank. Her husband Jacob, owns and operates Broken Bow Dairy in Custer County where they are Farm Bureau members. They also own two small businesses, Stern Housing LLC and Open Gates Trucking LLC, to aid with their growing dairy operation.

Stern competed with three other contestants, Robert Stuart, of Lexington, who farms with his family in Dawson County, Kyle Lechtenberg of Spencer, who serves on the State YF&R Committee and raises beef cattle and alfalfa in Boyd County, and Chris Niemann of David City, who is a fourth-generation farmer who grows corn, soybeans and raises beef cattle on his family farm in Butler County where he serves on his county Farm Bureau board.

Farm Bureau members between the ages of 18 and 35 can participate in the Young Farmer and Rancher Discussion Meet competition. As a Nebraska winner Stern will receive $500 and an all-expenses paid trip to the American Farm Bureau Convention in January 2018 in Nashville, Tenn., to compete in the contest at the national level.