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These scholarships must
have a parent or guardian that is a member of the Logan County Farm
Bureau in good standing. Scholarship recipients are announced and
recognized each year at the Logan County Farm Bureau’s annual Ag
Breakfast. This year’s breakfast will be held at 7 a.m. on March 20,
2025, at the American Legion.
Many of the scholarship recipients are still in agriculture and some
have chosen to make Logan County their home. Let’s look back at some
of the recipients and see where they are now.
Photo from Krista Swanson’s Facebook
page Krista (Ubbenga)
Swanson
Krista was a 2004 scholarship recipient. Krista hods a master’s
degree in Agricultural Economics and a Bachelor’s Degree in Crop
Sciences from the University of Illinois. She is currently the Chief
Economist for the National Corn Growers Association. Krista was
formerly a research analyst for the University of Illinois where she
studied farm economics and policy impacts on agriculture. She
frequently speaks at events across the country and is published on
farmdoc. Krista and her husband raise their four children on their
family farm.
Photo provided by Abrigail Temple
Abrigail (Sasse) Temple
Abrigail is a 2006 recipient of the scholarship. The Farm Bureau Ag
Scholarship provided funding for Abrigail to attend the University
of Illinois College of ACES that included a wealth of hands-on
experience in agriculture. She was able to take advantage of so many
opportunities while at U of I. They include her own research project
as an undergraduate, being a member of the meat judging team, and
internships at a sow farm and as a USDA meat grader. Abrigail holds
an undergraduate degree in animal science and master's degree in
food science.
After graduating she spent 13
years working as a research scientist at an animal nutrition
company. Her husband Doug and she were given the opportunity to
become a more integral part of production agriculture in recent
years, and they now work full-time together on their grain farm and
wean-to-finish pig farm.
“All of these life experiences have prepared me to own my own farm
and understand each sector of the agriculture industry that feeds
into production agriculture. I am very thankful for this wonderful
season of raising my kids on the farm!”
Photo provided by Andrew McCarty
Andrew McCarty
Andrew, a 2011 recipient, says: “Receiving the Farm Bureau Ag
Scholarship meant so much to me. Many of my childhood friends or
those I looked up to had received this scholarship before me, so
earning it was not only a huge help in covering educational
expenses, but it also reassured me that I belonged in the
agricultural community. Coming from a non-traditional ag background,
I felt especially validated when receiving the scholarship in front
of those same friends and respected members of our county’s ag
community.”
Since college Andrew has
remained involved in agriculture. About two years ago he founded
Pluto Commodities, an Ag Market Advisory and Commodity Brokerage. He
and his wife Lael, raise beef cattle, chickens, and row crops on
their small farm outside Atlanta, IL with their two dogs.
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Photo provided by Chelsea Irwin
Chelsea (Coers) Irwin and
Todd Irwin
Chelsea is a 2012 scholarship recipient. She attended Lincoln Land
Community College where she received a degree in Ag business.
Currently she is a stay at home mom and spends her days with 3 year
old twins Logan & CeCe and a distributor with Herbalife where you
can find her on the weekends at LoCo Nutrition, serving up delicious
teas!
Todd received the scholarship
in 2013 and attended Richland for two years and then transferred to
ISU where he received a bachelor’s in Animal Industry Management.
After graduation he was able to go back to the family dairy & grain
farm and work alongside his father and grandfather.
For the past 5 years Todd has been a Sales Representative for
Central IL Ag. “Working in Ag sales has given me the opportunity to
grow my knowledge of the Ag industry outside of my family farm.”
Todd, Chelsea and family will soon be making the move out to the
Irwin family farm where they will live and grow.
Photo provided by Meg Baer
Meg (Meeker) Baer
Meg is a 2015 scholarship recipient. Meg was able to attend and
graduate from college with no debt. “This was a huge blessing to me
because I went straight into the ag classroom after graduating with
my bachelor’s degree.” She is in her third-year teaching at Olympia
Middle School where she started an ag program and FFA chapter. Meg
said, “I love having the opportunity to help students build
transferable life skills through agricultural education!” Her and
her husband are active members in the Tazewell County Farm Bureau
Young Leaders group.
Photo provided by Molly Schempp
Molly Schempp
Molly said this about receiving the scholarship in 2019: “I worked 4
jobs while attending college and the support from Logan County
Agriculture helped me graduate from college debt free!”
Molly is an agriculture teacher and an FFA advisor at Lincoln
Community High School.
Molly and her fiancé are both passionate about farming and the
agriculture industry and have big plans as they begin their lives
together this summer in Logan County.
Thank you to the Logan County Farm Bureau and the scholarship
committee for investing in the future of Logan County.
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