Coffee County Farm Bureau (CHHCFB) Young Farmers & Ranchers (YF&R) Chairman Walt Pridgen won the 2025 Georgia Farm Bureau YF&R Achievement Award.
The award recognizes young farmers and ranchers who earn most of their income from production agriculture. Applicants are judged on their farming operations, Farm Bureau involvement and other leadership activities. The award was presented during the GFB YF&R Summer Leadership Conference, held July 16-19 on Jekyll Island.
Pridgen is a fifth-generation farmer who owns and operates Seven Creeks Farm and partners with his father, Jeffrey, to operate Claw Hill Farms. He raises broilers (chicken grown for meat) and cattle and grows hay and corn for feed. Pridgen has a bachelor’s degree in diversified agriculture from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College. He and his wife, Mary Elizabeth, live in Broxton with their son.
As the Achievement Award winner, Pridgen receives, courtesy of Georgia Farm Bureau, a John Deere Gator, a $500 cash prize and an expense-paid trip to the 2026 American Farm Bureau Federation Convention in Anaheim, California, in January to compete for national honors.
Toni Gaines of Bartow County and Allie Andrews of Lamar County were the other finalists in the Achievement Award competition. All three finalists received cash prizes.
The GFB Young Farmers & Ranchers program is designed to provide leadership development, educational and social opportunities for farmers between the ages of 18 and 35.
Founded in 1937, Georgia Farm Bureau is the state’s largest general farm organization and has 158 county offices. Its volunteer members actively participate in local, state and national activities that promote agriculture awareness to their non-farming neighbors. GFB offers its members a wide variety of benefits, including insurance, but enrollment in any of the member benefits is optional and not a requirement for membership.