Fourth-generation Maryland farmer wins Syngenta #RootedinAg contest

Syngenta said Wednesday that Shelby Watson Hampton of Brandywine, Maryland, is the winner of its 2016 Thrive #RootedinAg contest.

The contest by Thrive, Syngenta’s news magazine and website for U.S. growers and agribusiness professionals, asked agricultural professionals to describe how agricultural roots help their families and communities thrive.

Hampton, a fourth-generation family farmer at Robin Hill Farm & Vineyards, is an agricultural marketing specialist for the Maryland Department of Agriculture.

“I’m blessed to be able to say that my family’s roots in agriculture go back many generations and are steeped in a rich tradition of hard work, faith, family and farming. … If it weren’t for my agricultural roots, I would not have had the tenacity to grow wings and take a more active part in my larger community,” Hampton said in her winning essay.

As the winner of the contest, Hampton won a $500 gift card and the pledge from Syngenta to make a $1,000 donation in Hampton’s name to the BadenStrong Team, part of the Brandywine-Baden Out of the Darkness Walk which benefits the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP).

“We congratulate Shelby, and thank everyone who took the time to tell us how agriculture is benefiting not only them as individuals, but also the lives of so many others,” Wendell Calhoun, communications manager at Syngenta, said. “As a company, we understand their deep passion for our industry and credit our own agricultural roots with our ability to develop exceptional innovations and practical solutions for today’s – and tomorrow’s – growers.”