Photo contest celebrates "Faces of Ag"

5/5/2010

By Jim Poole

The Schoharie County Chamber of Commerce is celebrating the county’s number-one industry––farming––and especially the men and women behind it.
The Chamber’s Ag Business Committee is hosting its third annual photo contest, and this year’s theme is the “Faces of Agriculture in Schoharie County.”
“People assume that our farm products will always be there,” said Debbie Stanton of the committee. “But there are people behind the products, and they’re a driving force in Schoharie County.”
Past Chamber photo contests have focused on the seasons of agriculture or the produce.
“It’s not just animals or vegetables,” Ms. Stanton said. “All that doesn’t happen without a person behind them.”
The contest is for amateurs, and there are three age groups: adults 18 and over; youth, under 18; and children, 13 and under.
Winners will be announced at A Cobleskill Celebration on June 19 in Centre Park, Cobleskill. There will be three winners in each age group, and the photos will be displayed in the Times-Journal’s agriculture supplement in June.
Photos must have been taken in Schoharie County and of course must be ag-related.
Submitted photos become property of the Chamber, but the photographers will gain fame by having their work displayed in publicity and displays promoting Schoharie County agriculture.
“Farming is what this county is all about,” Ms. Stanton said. “I think people sometimes don’t realize all the businesses related to agriculture and the ag tourism along Route 20, Route 30 and I-88.”
Entry forms and rules for the contest are available at the Times-Journal, Realty USA, all NBT bank branches and Farm Credit East, formerly First Pioneer Farm Credit.
Photos should be submitted to the Chamber office on Main Street, Middleburgh.