Fourth and fifth graders in Green County were invited to participate in the 2015 Wisconsin Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom essay contest. There were over 88 local entries turned in for this year's contest that focused on the theme "Why are bees important to Wisconsin Agriculture?"

Winners of the 2015 Green County essay contest included: 1st Place: Lola Endicott, 4th Grader from Northside Elementary School, Monroe; 2nd Place: Drew Indergand, 4th Grader from Northside Elementary School, Monroe; 3rd Place: Vanessa Olmedo, 4th Grader from School District of Juda, Juda.

Each winner read their essay to attendees at the Green County Dairy Breakfast on the Farm on May 30, at the Wegmueller Dairy. They were also recognized with a plaque sponsored by Rural Insurance Agent, Craig Kamholz, JBM Insurance Group, and with the book, The Beeman by Laurie Krebs and Valeria Cis, Farm Bureau's book of the year, sponsored by the Green County Farm Bureau.

In addition to the three winners, the Green County Farm Bureau, in partnership with Frontier-Servco FS, sponsored a gift card for each teacher to purchase items for their classroom for having their entire class participate in the essay contest. The gift cards were presented to the following teachers: Ms. Abraham, Northside Elementary, Monroe; Ms. Steinmann, Northside Elementary, Monroe; Ms. Ramos, School District of Juda, Juda; Mrs. Jarvis, Albrecht Elementary, Brodhead; and Ms. Figi, Monticello Elementary School, Monticello.

We would like to thank all the sponsors who contributed this event and to those that participated. A special appreciation goes to the Green County Ag Chest for providing tickets for the Green County Breakfast on the Farm for our essay winners.

This contest is sponsored on the state level through the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom Program, WE Energies and Frontier-Servco FS.