(SEDALIA, Mo.) – The 2014 Missouri State Fair recently selected two female agriculturalists in an annual contest sponsored by Monsanto.
Tammy Bartholomew of Archie earned the title of Missouri Woman in Agriculture, and Ashlyn Richardson of Lincoln earned the title of Missouri Woman in Agriculture Rising Star. Each winner will receive a $1,000 cash donation from Monsanto for a nonprofit organization of her choice.
“The Missouri Woman in Agriculture Contest offers the opportunity to recognize the outstanding achievements women make in our state’s number one industry,” said Missouri State Fair Director Mark Wolfe in a news release. “The two women receiving top honors this year have demonstrated leadership in agriculture, a commitment to advance agriculture, and extensive State Fair participation.”
Bartholomew, the winner of the 31 and over age division, is a retired agriculture education teacher and FFA adviser. She has served as the first female president of the Missouri Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association. She has been involved in several other agriculture-related groups, including the National and Missouri Cattlemen’s Associations, and American and Missouri Angus Associations.  She and her husband, Steve, and daughters Hannah Bartholomew and Rachel Kagay and her husband, Bryant, raise registered Angus cattle.
Bartholomew has been active in the Missouri State Fair for many years, as an agriculture educator, Cass County Farm Family representative and as an exhibitor. The Missouri FFA Leadership Fund will be the agriculture-related beneficiary of the $1,000 donation sponsored by Monsanto.
Richardson, winner of the 18-30 age division, is a senior at the University of Missouri in Columbia studying agriculture education-leadership and serves as a College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources student ambassador.  She is a member of Missouri FFA and 4-H, serving as an officer in each of those organizations.
“The experiences that I have shared with the Missouri State Fair are certainly second to none,” Richardson said in a written statement. “Growing up only 20 miles from the fairgrounds, August has always been a time that every day is spent attending the fair. My participation in the fair will never cease.”
Ashlyn chose the Missouri State Fair Foundation Youth in Agriculture Scholarship as the agriculture-related beneficiary of the $1,000 donation sponsored by Monsanto.
New to the contest this year were awards for second place in each age division. Receiving second in the 31 and over age division was Marilyn Calvin of Mount Vernon. Receiving second in the 18-30 age division was Ashley Bauer of Warrenton.
The State Fair will honor women’s roles in the industry with a pictorial exhibit of women involved in agriculture that will be on display Aug.7-17 on the lawn of the Womans Building.
Free gate admission for all women will also be offered Aug. 14. Special activities this day will include the Missouri First Lady’s Pie Contest, sponsored by Starline Brass and AgriMissouri, at 10 a.m. in the Home Economics Building, and the Missouri Travel Council’s trade show, “A Celebration of Women,” from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Lowell Mohler Assembly Hall. Several prizes will be given away during the event, and a free Missouri craft beer and wine tasting event will start at 4 p.m. A wristband for the tasting will be available starting at 11 a.m. at the trade show.
The 112th Missouri State Fair will be held Aug. 7-17 in Sedalia. For more information, visit www.mostatefair.com or call 1-800-422-FAIR (3247).