Agriculture Advocate Wins Case IH Tractor

RACINE, Wis. ̶   As part of its ongoing commitment to help agriculture producers Be Ready to address the challenges and opportunities confronting the agriculture industry, Case IH awarded nine new Farmall® tractors to the runners-up of the 2012 American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Young Farmers & Ranchers (YF&R) awards. One of those tractors, a Farmall 45A, was recently delivered to Sharla Mortimer of Dewey, Ariz., for being a finalist in the Excellence in Agriculture competition.

The winners, announced at the AFBF’s 93rd Annual Meeting earlier this year in Honolulu, Hawaii, actively contribute to and enhance their involvement in agriculture with leadership and participation in Farm Bureau and other organizations. The majority of their income is not from an agricultural operation.

“These finalists truly represent the kind of leadership abilities farmers and agriculturists will need to keep up with the evolving agriculture industry,” says Zach Hetterick, manager of Case IH Livestock Marketing. “We are proud to sponsor them as they continue growing in this rewarding business.”

Sharla Mortimer grows vegetables on a small farm, including sweet corn and pumpkins, which she sells to the local community. For the last 10 years, she has raised 200 head of Angus cattle on a 25,000-acre ranch. She found Farm Bureau helpful as she began her farming and ranching operation.

“Farm Bureau is a great organization with a lot of fantastic people,” says Mortimer. “By joining together, we can all have a really strong voice, and that’s imperative in today’s economic and political situations.”

M & S Equipment, in Coolidge, Ariz., delivered the new Case IH Farmall 45A to Mortimer in mid-July. She says the tractor is the perfect size for her vegetable farming operation, and she plans to put it to work there.

“This is our first Case IH tractor, and I told my husband it’s going to take over the entire operation and be the envy of our fleet,” says Mortimer. “For new farmers and ranchers with no family operation, this is something we have to work at every day, so to have this kind of prize available is fantastic.”

Mortimer sits on the Yavapai County Farm Bureau board and participates in the Young Farmers & Ranchers program. She was a member of the Arizona Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee from 2007 to 2009 and is currently in her third year of chairing the committee.