By Hadlee Ivey
The Benton Partnership hosted the sixth annual Farm-to-Fork dinner on September 16th at Marshall County High School. The dinner provided an opportunity for the Marshall County community to thank their local farmers and honor them for all their hard work throughout the year.
The dinner featured a variety of foods, prepared and served to the guests by Marshall County High School’s Culinary class. The Marshall County High School FFA members helped set up the tables. The meal was buffet-style with main course options which included bison ribs, meatloaf, pulled pork, barbecue chicken, baked fish, as well as corn on the cob, black-eyed peas, loaded potato casserole, green bean casserole, hush puppies, slaw, rolls and a variety of desserts. All the ingredients provided were grown by local farmers, highlighting the importance of buying local and supporting the community.
The Benton Partnership announced their newest upcoming project – a Farmer’s Market Pavilion to be located on Poplar Street next to the Benton Water Plant. They hope to have the pavilion up and running by next spring.
After dinner, people gathered for an awards and scholarships ceremony in the Shadowen Performing Arts Center. The ceremony began with an agricultural award documentary video highlighting last year’s Farm-to-Fork winners and the work they have done. Miss Kentucky, Mallory Hudson, led the people in the song, “My Old Kentucky Home.” Scholarships were awarded to seniors from Marshall County High School and Christian Fellowship School. The Media Scholarship was awarded to MCHS student Hayden Powell who was a part of creating the documentary presented at the beginning of the ceremony. The Culinary Scholarship was awarded to Kiera Denham of MCHS. The FFA Scholarship was given to Ty Elrod from Marshall County. And, the Journalism Scholarship was presented to Hadlee Ivey, a senior at Christian Fellowship School.
Farmers were honored following the scholarship presentation. The Junior Farmer of the Year was awarded to Hunter Conner who has been farming with his dad since he was a child. Tyler McKenty was named Young Farmer of the Year. He is the operations manager of West Kentucky Aquaponics. The 2023 Woman in Agriculture Award was presented to Taylor Joseph. She operates a farm with her husband and five children. Harvest Time won the Agribusiness of the Year Award. The owners, Brandy and Dustin Green, bought the business a year ago and have had a very successful year. Glenda Byers presented her dad, Glen Thompson, with the 2023 Farmer of the Year Award. Glen has farmed in Marshall County since 1970. Retirement is not in his future as Glen loves farming.
Thank you to the 2023 Farm-to-Fork sponsors: C&C AgSolutions, Cellar Door, First Choice Farm & Lawn, H&R Agri-Power, Hutson, Nutrien, River Valley Ag Credit Union, and Tosh Farms.
