Jeff & Lynda Horning and Chad Fusilier honored by Washtenaw County Farm Bureau
Left: Washtenaw County Farm Bureau president Joe Packard (l) presented the Washtenaw County Farm Bureau’s 2026 Outstanding Service to Agriculture Award to Jeff (r) and Lynda Horning Right: Washtenaw County Farm Bureau president Joe Packard (r) presented the 2026 Washtenaw County Farm Bureau Young Farmer of the Year to Chad Fusilier (l). Photos courtesy of Kathleen Siler.
by Kathleen Siler, Washtenaw County Farm Bureau, reprinted with permission
The Washtenaw County Farm Bureau held their annual meeting on Monday, September 21st at Revel Run in Chelsea. Two of the awards presented were presented to Manchester farmers this year. Jeff and Lynda Horning received the Washtenaw County Farm Bureau’s 2026 Outstanding Service to Agriculture Award, and Chad Fusilier was named 2026 Washtenaw County Farm Bureau Young Farmer of the Year.
Jeff and Lynda Horning
The Outstanding Service to Agriculture award recognizes someone who has demonstrated
outstanding leadership and service to our local agriculture. The award was presented at the County Farm Bureau’s annual meeting on Monday, September 21st at Revel Run in Chelsea.
This year’s award recipients are Jeff and Lynda Horning. Jeff and Lynda have been active members in their Farm Bureau community for over thirty years.
Lynda is currently serving on the Rural Education Days (or Project RED) Committee and has done so since 2005. This impactful event sees approximately 2,000 students, teachers and chaperons annual to teach them about agriculture. This massive event takes three days to put on but nearly a year to plan.
Additionally, Lynda is serving on the Promotion & Education Committee, and she has been the chair of that committee since 2014. During her time as chair, the committee has implemented many great projects like Farm Safety Day, Ag-vocacy Breakfast, Proud Farmer Social Media Campaign, National Agriculture Week displays, and various local fair booth activities. Many of these programs have been recognized at the state Farm Bureau level. Fantastically, the Treat of Agriculture and the P&E Kick Off Dinner events were both nationally recognized by American Farm Bureau. She truly is a leader in the ag promotion world.
Jeff has also had many leadership roles in Washtenaw County over the years. He has served on the county Farm Bureau board, Policy Development Committee and Candidate Evaluation Committee. He is currently on the Michigan Farm Bureau Commodity Advisory Committee for Dairy. As a Young Farmer, Jeff served on the State Young Farmer Committee, which he chaired in 1998 and as the chair served a term on the Michigan Farm Bureau Board of Directors.
Outside of Farm Bureau, Jeff has also been a longtime member of the CentralStar (formally NorthStar) Cooperative board of directors, and will be retiring from that committee this fall. He also serves on the National Dairy Herd Improvement Association board and is an appointed member of the Michigan Dairy Market Program Committee. Locally, Jeff has coached the county 4-H dairy quiz bowl and judging teams for over 20 years.
Together, Jeff and Lynda served together on the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Young Farmer and Rancher Committee, a prestigious honor that only the best of the best get the privilege of doing. They also hosted the first Michigan State University Extension Breakfast on the Farm Program in 2010; an event that brought over 2,000 visitors to their farm.
Jeff and Lynda have three children that are involved in agriculture; two of them are owner-operators of the family farm alongside their parents, and the third has a passion for teaching agriculture to kids in school. They have four grandchildren and love taking them for tractor rides, gator rides, and spoiling them in any and every way grandparents love doing. I’m sure they hope at least one of them winds up working at the farm as the 7th generation carrying on the Horning Farms legacy.
Jeff and Lynda have been pillars of the agriculture community for a long time. It’s a stature that doesn’t come with titles or accomplishments, but with humility, hospitality, and good neighborliness.
Chad Fusilier
The Young Farmer of the Year is awarded to a Washtenaw County Farm Bureau member that is 18-35 years old and whose efforts have made a difference to our local agriculture. This year’s award was presented at the County Farm Bureau’s annual meeting on Monday, September 21st at Revel Run in Chelsea.
Chad has taken full advantage of his time as a ‘Young Farmer’ beginning with his involvement at age 18. He has attended every Young Farmers Leader’s Conference and Growing Together Conference since he was old enough to attend; an impressive 12 conferences. In addition, he has competed in the Young Farmer Discussion Meet, advancing to the state competition three times, and has also competed in the Michigan Farm Bureau Young Farmer Awards three times.
While at Michigan State, Chad was president of the Collegiate Farm Bureau chapter. During his time participating in and leading the group, involvements welled from single digit membership to nearly 20 members.
Chad is finishing his final term on the Michigan Farm Bureau State Young Farmer Committee. In this role, Chad served as the connection between Michigan Farm Bureau and our District 3 county-level Farm Bureaus and Young Farmer Committees. As the demographic representing the future of our organization, the State Young Farmer Committee has the ever-dauting challenge of engaging current young farmer aged members to be active in their communities, as well as surfacing new faces to be a part of the Farm Bureau community as a whole. During his time on the committee, Chad helped organize and oversee the state level discussion meet, and was a panel member of a breakout session at the Young Farmers Leaders Conference.
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