The local Darke County Farmers Union is sponsoring an essay contest again this year for the area’s high school seniors or those who are attending college as freshmen. This year, the essay will honor August “Gus” Zumbrink. August was an active, lifetime member of the Farmers Union and served with the Darke County A.S.C.S. Office (now the F.S.A.) as the Director for fifteen years, from January 1963 to January 1978.
Mr. Zumbrink was also very active in his church and community and he served in all the offices of the Darke County Farmers Union and was also a member of the Executive Committee. He, along with his wife, Mary, attended many state conventions and also traveled to the national convention to fight for the rights and interests of family farmers. Gus, as he was known, was very well respected among the farmers of this county and was an excellent administrator as he worked with the sometimes very complicated federal farm programs. To his credit, he was consulted by the Kennedy administration in the early 1960s to develop the “feed grains farm programs” that helped many family farmers to survive during the 1960s and 1970s. Gus also farmed with his family in York and Wabash Townships in northern Darke County and was a true believer in the economic importance of the small family farmer. He helped his two sons, James and John Zumbrink, both lifetime members of Farmers Union, get started in farming. The two brothers continued to farm together until John passed away in May of 2012 and Jim took over the operation with the help of his wife, Diana, and his children, Scott Zumbrink and Dawn Muhlenkamp.
For more information on our Darke County Farmers Union, Ohio Farmers Union, or National Farmers Union scholarship essay contests and their applications, please call your local Farmers Union office at 937-548-3240 or stop in at our office on the Circle at 421 Public Square in Greenville. Information may also be found with the high school guidance counselors at the various schools in the county.
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