RACINE, Wis. — As part of its ongoing commitment to help agriculture
producers be ready to address the challenges and opportunities confronting the
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 65A, was recently delivered
to Kirk and Stephanie Liefer of Red Bud, Ill., for being a national finalist for
the YF&R Achievement Award.
The winners, announced at the AFBF’s 93rd Annual Meeting on Jan. 9 in
Honolulu, Hawaii, were selected based on the success of their operation combined
with the strength of their leadership skills.
“These finalists truly represent the kind of leadership abilities farmers
will need to keep up with the evolving agriculture industry,” says Scott Raber,
Case IH Regional Sales Director. “We are proud to sponsor them as they continue
growing in this rewarding business.”
The Liefers, along with their five children and Kirk’s parents, grow corn,
beans, wheat, seed beans and seed wheat.
“Applying for the Achievement Award gave us a good opportunity to look back
on where we started and where we are now,” says Kirk Liefer. “And we wouldn’t be
where we are now if it wasn’t for Farm Bureau fighting for us.”
Case IH dealer Mascoutah Equipment in Mascoutah, Ill., delivered the new Case
IH Farmall 65A to the Liefers on April 18. This is the Liefer’s first Case IH
tractor, and they plan to use it for moving augers, unloading grain and
mowing.
“We can’t say enough about Case IH for supporting Farm Bureau,” Kirk Liefer
says. “We have to train the next group of leaders to handle the upcoming
challenges, and I think it’s great that they sponsor this development.”
Starting with Farm Bureau’s Agricultural Leaders Of Tomorrow program, Kirk
Liefer has become a county board member and state committee member. Currently,
he serves as president of the Randolph County Farm Bureau and participates in
state and national meetings. While the Liefers enjoy the networking within Farm
Bureau, they also participate in their church and children’s schools. Stephanie
sits on the St. Clement Community Health Foundation board that provides
scholarships and grants to people in the healthcare field. They also speak to
students of all ages through the Agriculture in the Classroom program.
“We can’t say enough about Case IH for supporting Farm Bureau,” Kirk Liefer says. “We have to train the next group of leaders to handle the upcoming challenges, and I think it’s great that they sponsor this development.”
Case IH is a global leader in agricultural equipment, committed to
collaborating with its customers to develop the most powerful, productive,
reliable equipment – designed to meet today’s agricultural challenges.
Challenges like feeding an expanding global population on less land, meeting
ever-changing government regulations and managing input costs. With headquarters
in the United States, Case IH has a network of dealers and distributors that
operates in over 160 countries. Case IH provides agricultural equipment systems,
flexible financial service offerings and parts and service support for
professional farmers and commercial operators through a dedicated network of
professional dealers and distributors. Productivity enhancing products include
tractors; combines and harvesters; hay and forage equipment; tillage tools;
planting and seeding systems; sprayers and applicators; site-specific farming
tools and utility vehicles. Case IH is a brand of CNH (NYSE: CNH), a
majority-owned subsidiary of Fiat Industrial S.p.A. (FI.MI).