Jacob Rix of Sacramento County took home third-place in the overall category for this photo of a nut orchard. Photo courtesy of California Farm Bureau

SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - A 2024 high school graduate and FFA member from Bakersfield earned first-place in the 43rd annual California Farm Bureau Photo Contest.

Rachel Ramey, who won $1,000 for a shot of a mother cow nuzzling her newborn calf, said she unexpectedly witnessed the birth when she was visiting Adamscows Dairy in Laton for a practice dairy-judging session with her Frontier FFA team.

Ramey said she enjoys shining a light on agriculture wherever she goes and uses her smartphone to capture farming moments.

“People outside of the agriculture community don’t get to experience moments like these,” Ramey said. “I wanted to capture (them) to show why agriculturalists do what we do.”

The 2024 photo contest attracted hundreds of images from amateur photographers who are members of county Farm Bureaus throughout the state. Contestants used cameras and smartphones to capture the winning images.

Maddy Nissen of Willows earned second-place and $500 for a photo of her grandfather leaning on a fence at an Orland ranch.

Sacramento resident Jacob Rix won third-place and $250 for a landscape of an Oakdale hillcrest.

Nissen also won People’s Choice and $100 for a photo of 5-year-old Frankie Alves hugging her cow at the Glenn County Fair.

Ashley Jansen, 13 of Colusa County, took home first-place in the Budding Artists category for this photo of a dragonfly. Photo courtesy of California Farm Bureau

Six photographers earned honorable mentions and $50 each: Julia Elgorriaga of Madera, Michelle Foster of Santa Maria, Sean Long of Grass Valley, Monica Morris of Valley Center, Christian Rivas of King City and Drew Scott of Kingsburg.

In the Budding Artists category for photographers aged 13 and younger, 13-year-old Ashley Jansen of Arbuckle won first-place for a close-up of a dragonfly against rice plants in an Arbuckle field. Grady Rocca, an 11-year-old from Fresno, won second-place with a close-up of a bee pollinating a lavender plant at Solace Lavender Farm in Kerman. Both prizes were presented by the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom.

All 12 prize-winning photos were published in Ag Alert®, the California Farm Bureau’s biweekly newspaper, and California Bountiful®, the organization’s quarterly magazine. The photos are also on all California Farm Bureau websites at www.cfbf.com, www.agalert.com and www.californiabountiful.com, and will appear on its social media pages.

The California Farm Bureau works to protect family farms and ranches on behalf of more than 26,000 members statewide and as part of a nationwide network of 5.8-million Farm Bureau members.