Foundation for Agriculture to Announce New Book of the Year at Annual Convention

The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture will announce its tenth Book of the Year on Sunday, Jan. 8, at the AFBF Annual Convention & IDEAg Trade Show in Phoenix, Arizona. The winning book will be revealed at the annual Flapjacks with the Foundation breakfast, where attendees will receive a free copy of the book provided by Farm Bureau Bank.

The author of the new Book of the Year will be in attendance to accept the award at the 7:45 a.m. breakfast event. Following Flapjacks with the Foundation, the Book of the Year author will be signing books at the Farm Bureau Bank booth in the Trade Show from 11:00 a.m-12:30 p.m. Copies of the book, educator guides and a new Ag Mag also will be available.

The Book of the Year award springs from the Foundation’s effort to identify “accurate ag books,” a collection of more than 400 books for children, teenagers and adults that accurately cover agricultural topics. In addition to their accuracy, Book of the Year selections are educational, reflect farmers’ and ranchers’ love for the land and what they do, create positive public perceptions about agriculture, inspire readers to learn more and touch their readers’ lives as well as tell the farmer’s story.

Previous Book of the Year selections are “First Peas to the Table” by Susan Grigsby, “The Apple Orchard Riddle” by Margaret McNamara, “The Beeman” by Laurie Krebs, “The Guardian Team: On the Job with Rena and Roo” by Cat Urbigkit, “How Did that Get Into My Lunchbox? The Story of Food” by Chris Butterworth, “Seed Soil Sun: Earth’s Recipe for Food” by Cris Peterson, “Soybeans in the Story of Agriculture” by Susan Anderson and JoAnne Buggey, “The Man Who Fed the World” by Leon Hesser and “The Tree Farmer” by Chuck Leavell.

Julie Tesch, the Foundation's executive director, said the tenth Book of the Year will continue the high standards of these previous selections.

Whether in their approach to storytelling or in their audience, all the Book of the Year all selections do a great job educating people about agriculture and how it touches everyone. The next Book of the Year, which has already been selected but won't be announced until the Flapjacks with the Foundation event, will continue that tradition of introducing to readers something they probably didn't know about agriculture, in the book's distinctive way.

Julie Tesch, executive director of the Foundation

Flapjacks with the Foundation is an incredibly popular Annual Convention events. Tickets, which can be purchased through the Annual Convention registration system , are $36 per individual or $340 for a table for 10.