SANDY, Utah. December 7, 2018 – Brad & Jenny Osguthorpe of Heber, Utah were recognized as the winners of the Utah Farm Bureau Young Farmer and Rancher 'Excellence in Agriculture' award. The award was presented at the recent Utah Farm Bureau Annual Convention in Layton, Utah. 

The Excellence in Agriculture award is a competition that was initiated a number of years ago to recognize young farmers and ranchers involved in agriculture, but who do not necessarily derive a majority of their income from an owned production agriculture operation. 

“We are honored and humbled to receive this award, and to represent Wasatch County and the State of Utah at the national level,” said Brad Osguthorpe. “We love being advocates for agriculture and look forward to the opportunities ahead to learn and share what we get to experience every day.”

The Osguthorpe family, representing the Wasatch County Farm Bureau, competed with 12 other contestants for the award. The Osguthorpes received a 2018 Polaris ATV courtesy of Utah Farm Bureau and Zions Bank Ag Group, an insurance policy for the ATV from Farm Bureau Financial Services, and an expense-paid trip to the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting. 

The Osguthorpes will compete at the American Farm Bureau annual convention in January with the winners of this same award from other State Farm Bureaus across the country. In 2019, the national winner of the Excellence in Agriculture Award will receive a new Ford truck, courtesy of the Ford Motor Company. The runner-up will receive a Case IH Farmall 50A tractor, and third place finalists will receive a Case IH 40” Combination Roll Cabinet & Top Chest and a $500 parts card, as well as $2,000 of Stanley Black & Decker merchandise.

Brad is a third-generation farmer and rancher, growing up working on his family’s sheep ranch in Park City and Delta. Jenny grew up in Layton, and yet loves the rural lifestyle and the opportunity to raise the next generation sheep ranchers on their family farm. Brad and Jenny both graduated with degrees from Weber State University. In addition to their work on the ranch and promoting agritourism, Jenny works as a personal assistant and Brad as an estate manager, overseeing several residential estates in the U.S. and Mexico, along with commercial facilities.

“It has been really great to share what we have on our ranch – our ‘ag way of life’ – with others in our community, and beyond through social media. We try to make ranching seem like less of a foreign thing to those who don’t work in agriculture,” said Jenny Osguthorpe. “It takes our whole family to make things work, and this award would not have been possible without them. We feel fortunate to live in this great part of our state.”

Together as a family they work on the ranch and help promote agriculture any way they can. They serve on the Utah Farm Bureau Agriculture Promotion Committee and are active with the Utah Wool Growers Association, Utah Wool Marketing and the American Sheep Industry.